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Our Encore cruise Dec. 15-Dec. 22


Peachypooh
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This review will be done in stages as I am trying to get it done in between

holiday preparations. It will also just be text as I didn't take that many pictures

and there are loads of Encore photos out there that I feel are very accurate.

 

We flew into MIA two days before and stayed at the Marriott Biscayne Bay

as we usually do.If you reserve one of the rooms with a Bay view you can see

the ships which is very exciting. The full day we were in Miami we took the

trolley (free) to the Bayside Marketplace. It was bustling with holiday shoppers /cruise

passengers and we had an excellent lunch at the Bavarian house. On the way

home we missed our stop so we got to do the whole Biscayne trolley route for

free until we got dropped off. It was loaded with local people going about

their business and it gave us a little bit of an idea of what living in Miami is like.

 

The morning of embarkation we saw the Encore pull into port very early around 4 a.m. She is pretty

with all her lights sparkling. At 9:45 we hailed a cab from the hotel and got to the cruise port

by 10:00 a.m. As we were early there really were no lines for either the Haven passengers which

we were or other passengers. It was all very organized. They started boarding by 11:00 a.m.

One immediate difference we noted is that once boarded  we were left on our own to figure out where to go.

There was no escort to the Haven or even directions given to anyone so we quickly had to find

a map and make our way ourselves. They let us drop our bags in our cabin even though the

room wasn't ready and we headed to the American Diner  for lunch. We ordered  the blue plate special

with the lobster rolls as an appetizer. The lobster rolls were really outstanding and the blue plate

special was 2 giant slabs of what looked like prime rib, mashed potatoes and green beans.

Excellent as well. This was complimentary for Haven passengers.

 

After lunch we wandered around until our cabin was ready.One thing we immediately noticed was the

new ship smell. Everything was pristine and shiny. I had never been on a brand new ship before so

it was a treat to see everything so beautiful and new. All week long I pointed out to my husband

"Look, new napkins" or" Look new silverware" or "Look  no stains on anything

anywhere". LOL this impressed me more than it should have. To be continued

 

 

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Once they told us we could go to our cabins we headed up to deck 17. We had a 2 bed/2 bath unit.

It was very nicely done. One thing that  you should be aware of if you book this cabin is that the master

bathroom has large windows overlooking the ocean and the shades are not opaque. If you are using

the bathroom and someone is on the balcony they can see you.  Also if you are in port and docked next to

a building or another ship you are clearly visible so we kept the lights off in the bathroom during those

times. They really need opaque shades for those units. Our cabin was right next to the Horizon lounge which

made it super handy to get the continental breakfast, afternoon snacks and coffee tea and juice. At low speeds

and in port our cabin was nice and  smooth but at higher speeds the room vibrated especially the bed.

It wasn't wave action it was some sort of issue that needs to be addressed as it made for a couple of

sleepless nights. Other passengers on other decks noticed it too.

 

Passenger demographics a lot of the time influence the tone of the cruise. As far as I could tell the cruise

was mainly family groups from many different states and even countries. It was nice to see families having

a good time together and it made for a nice atmosphere. Lots of different languages spoken.There were quite a few children staying in the Haven so the pool was always full of kids which is fine. However they also used the Horizon lounge to play hide and seek, wrestle each other and jump over couches. Not only was this disruptive it was dangerous due to the

glass coffee tables. It was only the last day that they were told by the crew not to run. Even so it wasn't constant so

we did spend quite a bit of time in there.

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Were you by chance in 17100?  Its the suite right next to the Horizon Lounge.  If so, does that silver door open right from the hall for access to the lounge?  I don't know if its an emergency exit or not.  I am in 17100 in Feb so I am curious.

Its always sad when parents don't control their kids.   If one got hurt, they would be blaming NCL for the glass tables.

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3 hours ago, david_sobe said:

Were you by chance in 17100?  Its the suite right next to the Horizon Lounge.  If so, does that silver door open right from the hall for access to the lounge?  I don't know if its an emergency exit or not.  I am in 17100 in Feb so I am curious.

Its always sad when parents don't control their kids.   If one got hurt, they would be blaming NCL for the glass tables.

We were in 17700 starboard. 17100 is the same location port.  As you exited the cabin there was a door straight ahead that opened into the hallway that ledato the right  (about 10 feet) into the lounge.I am assuming it is the same in for 17100. To the right as we exited our door was a unisex bathroom for people I am assuming that have Haven cabins but are not in the Haven to use. It really didn't get much use.

 

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Muster drill was announced at 3 pm to start at 3:30. Our muster station was the Local. This was the only

time I met a rude crew member. It said right on our door that our muster station was C7 and when we went

down to muster I asked a crew member where C7 was because I could only see signs up to C6. He said there

is no C7 so I checked my sign and sail card and it said C5. He then smirked and said I told you so.

There was no reason for this as I was polite and had just asked a question and had been given wrong

information in my cabin.

Anyway my cabin steward and butler were delightful as were everyone else we met so perhaps he was just

having a bad day.

On embarkation night we had dinner at Q. We live in BBQ country and I can say I was impressed with the food.

Service was fast and the crew friendly. After that we walked around a bit to get our bearings. My heart sank a little

as I didn't think I could figure out such a big ship and was just plain confused. Never fear by the second day

things were clearer and I easily found my way around by the end of the first sea day.

 

The first sea day (Monday) was our meet and greet. It was at the District brew house and NCl really rolled

out the red carpet. Every one was given free flights of beer and they passed hot and cold appetizers that

were excellent. The organizer  did a great job and we were given the cards with the officers extensions which

I never had reason to use.

 

The Captain's reception was held at 7:00 in the Horizon lounge with cocktails and again excellent appetizers.

At 7:30 we saw our first show Choir of Man. The singing and dancing were very professional and the

actors/singers were enthusiastically cheered.

 

 

 

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We saw three shows and all three were excellent. Choir of Man, the Beatles tribute (not in the Cavern club but in the theatre) and lastly Prohibition.

Choir of Man - had no plot but was loosely based on a group of men singing in their pub. Excellent

voices and one man tap danced in a very entertaining way .Resevations needed. Free

Beatles Tribute Yesterday- was 45 minutes long and held in the theatre .No reservations needed.  Free. The entertainers had amazing voices and I am pretty sure were wearing wigs and stayed in character clowning around. If you are even

a mild Beatles fan see it. Excellent.

Prohibition- reservations needed and there was a fee. This was held in the comedy venue. Even after the standbys

were let in there were still seats available. In the one hour they performed they served 5 cocktails! My husband chose

the alcoholic ones but only took a sip. I chose the non-alcoholic ones but still only took a sip. A little off color

humor but great fun.

 

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We stopped at three ports. Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and Tortola

Puerto Rico- This is an evening stop and we had planned to walk to Triana's restaurant

and watch a flamenco show. No sooner had we stepped off the ship we were deluged with

rain. We were wearing raincoats but even an umbrella wouldn't have saved us. We were soaked.

So we went to CVS which is a short walk and bought some souveniers and went back to the ship.

We were truly disappointed but you can't count on Mother Nature to cooperate.

 

St. Thomas- We took the tramway to Paradise point which afforded us spectacular views from the

top. We ate lunch in their restaurant (shrimp and lobster roll) which was tasty and then took the

tramway back down. We then went to the Pirate Museum. It was much better than the typical tourist trap.

There was a gift shop which had some interesting finds but the star was the museum portion.

You got to stand in a booth and feel what it is like to be in hurricane force winds, saw some shipwreck

artifacts but the best part was seeing the private collection of a man who works there. He had things

he has salvaged over the course of 20 years displayed in a case and gave a one hour talk about each item.

It was really interesting and truly appreciated that he does this.

 

Tortola-We took a cab to the Botanical Gardens which is aprox 1 1/2 miles from the cruise port. It was very

hot that day. It took aprox. 45 minutes to go through the gardens which really took a hit during the

hurricanes but is coming back nicely. We took quite a few beautiful flower pictures. It was $3 each

to get in. That's when the fun started. We had arranged for a taxi to come back to get us but he never

showed up. My rule of never being dropped off unless in a pinch you can walk back paid off. And that's

what we did. We walked back to town and then had lunch at Pusser's Pub. By then we really needed

to cool down. I had fish and chips and my husband had a grilled chicken sandwich. Both were good.

They are famous for their rum so my husband got a #2 painkiller in a mug and true to form I ordered a

diet coke. Then a short walk back to the ship.

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12 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

Very much enjoying your review!  It's been years since we have been to Puerto Rico, but one of our best memories was getting drenched by rain and popping into an awesome little museum to wait it out

Thank you.

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The Observation lounge-This was one of our favorite spots on the ship. Not too many people

sleeping but lots of family groups playing cards, etc. We usually headed there at 3 p.m. for

Happy Hour. We were able each time to get a spot at the bar. Lovely was our bartender and

she was cheerful, efficient and remembered what we liked to drink. The best bartender we

have ever had. I do not drink but she kept me well stocked with ginger ale, diet Pepsi or

a non-alcoholic mudslide. My husband usually ordered a painkiller or negroni. One thing I

noticed is that people really liked to socialize in this area of the ship and both the one

time we sat at a table and the other times we sat at the bar we were able to chat with some

very interesting people which made our cruise much more enjoyable. Between 3 pm and 5 pm

the Observation lounge really got crowded as that was the time the buffet changed over from

lunch to dinner and in the Observation lounge you could get a light meal like a sandwich, fruit,

or other munchies.

 

Pool area- We only sat at the pool one sea day but were able to get a table starboard side in the

shade. My husband did go in the pool but he didn't spend too much time there as I think he said

it was cold. We also attended an ice carving demonstration on the pool deck and were able to get

close enough to really see what was going on. They let you bring food from the buffet out to the

pool and we did take advantage of that.My chair faced towards the stern and seeing the pool slides

and raceway, etc. one deck up made for a feeling I was sitting in a cavern. Not a clean line of sight

to the ocean unless I looked sideways out of the window.

 

The buffet- There was a very large assortment of food at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Even though

there were quite a few seats we made it a point of getting there just as it opened (5 p.m. for dinner)

as the sheer number of people just for me was unpleasant. Everyone was polite but if you don't

like crowds time your visits carefully. Tables were cleaned immediately to accomodate as

many people as possible quickly. Things I tried and liked were the carving station (pork roast)

the pasta station had already made items (penne and spaghetti you could put either a creamy parmesan sauce on

or tomato based sauce) You could also wait and have something custom made for you.

In the morning there was an omlet station but also premade omlets, hash browns, bacon, sausages etc.

The pastries were just OK. The only pastry I found l liked were the almond ones in the Horizon lounge.

As usual even though the food was plentiful, varied and delicious, the desserts just left something to

be desired. That's OK it cut down on calories!

 

 

 

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Laundry Service- We sent out some laundry the morning of our first sea day (Monday) and it was

returned to us by 6 p.m. Tuesday. On the other Norwegian ships we have sailed, everything came

back folded in a basket and we had trouble once with white items coming back gray. Not on the

Encore! Everything was hung on nice plastic hangers and the white items were sparkling clean.

There was a bag special mid-week but since we get two bags of free laundry we just went

ahead and sent out the items that we wore pre-trip in Miami. We were impressed.

 

Cagneys-Other than Q which I mentioned earlier (that we loved) we also ate at Cagney's. Frankly I

can't remember what we ordered but I remember it was delicious. The layout of the restaurant

is much better than the Jewell class ships (in my opinion) as they put the tables for 2 and 4 together

near the window and the tables for larger groups (read between the lines rowdy kids LOL) in another

area. It was a peaceful meal.

 

The Local-This area is one deck up from the atrium and if something is going on in the atrium the

noise is deafening. However there is one section tucked away in an alcove where we asked to sit

that cut the sound by 50%. We ordered the grilled cheese sandwich with tomato. Wow!! The bread

was toasted to perfection, they used two types of cheeses with tomato in between and you had a choice

of chips or french fries. The service was very, very prompt.

 

Haven restaurant- Even though we could have eaten here for all three meals for the 7 days we only

ate there twice, both times for dinner. I can't explain why but there were so many other choices we

didn't want to miss. I had the lamb chops one of the nights and they were done exactly as ordered.

It took one hour each time. The menu is limited but what they offer is good quality.

 

 

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Enjoying your review!  We were also on the Encore at the same time as you.  We enjoyed the Observation Lounge quite a bit, as well, especially my teenage daughter.  Great place for an afternoon snack or light breakfast in the early morning (the best time, IMO).  

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Internet- We were pleasantly surprised at how fast the internet connection was.

We had the 250 minute perk plus an extra 30 min each for being platinum.

We checked our email daily, printed boarding passes the last day plus posted on

facebook. We still had 200 minutes left at the end of the cruise!

 

Water- In the past for some reason my ankles would swell when cruising NCL. The last cruise

I drank exclusively bottled water and I was fine. This time I said the heck with it and switched

back to using the hot water from the Horizon lounge for tea. No ankle swelling problems. We

did order 6 of the  1 liter bottles which showed up as 12 1/2 liter bottles that along with

our platinum water bottles was way too much. We had to leave about 6 behind. I imagine

if we had gone to the beach at any of the stops it would have been useful but the shipboard

water was totally fine.

 

Casino- We played the slot machines one day. Didn't do too well and just had $34 of vouchers to

cash in. We decided to use the self redeem machine and it only spit out $29 LOL Oh well we didn't

follow up with the cashier because how could we prove what we put in? Next time the cashier for us.

 

Haven sun deck- Aside from a first day walk through we did not use it at all. It was too windy and

rocky most days. I did see a few couples up there but we decided too windy for us. It seemed like

a nice area.

 

Main dining rooms- We did not eat in any of them. 

 

Kinky Boots- Cancelled due to rough seas the night we were to see it. We had seen it in the

Broadway touring production so weren't too disappointed. We enjoyed it when we saw it

on land.

 

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