Most important 2 things on a ship

[GaryWT]

About to book a cruise on the Encore and the search doesn’t seem to be working.  Looked for but cannot find anything about soft serve ice cream and late night pizza.  Are these offered on the ship as they are always a staple when we cruise. Please let me know if they are available. Thanks

[FLAHAM]

While I have found NCL food generally to my liking, the pizza (buffet or room service) has not been good.  Self-service soft-serve ice cream (chocolate, vanilla and mixed) is usually available in the buffet (open reasonably late).  

[MoCruiseFan]

The pizza on NCL is FAR superior to the grease soaked ½ raw barely digestable junk on CCL.

[chengkp75]

And here I thought you were referring to fuel and the Captain's license.

[AKR2011]

In my opinion, O'Sheehan's or The Local (both similar 24 hour venue - nit sure which Encore has) have pizza and ice cream beat. Burgers and hot dogs your way, wings, nachos, desserts...So many options basically 24 hours. I have heard that they close between like 5 and 6am, but they advertise 24 hour service. I've definitely gone 2-3am and have been very satisfied. If you do prefer the buffet, usually there are all kinds of late night snacks and a crepe station until 11:30pm. 

[david_sobe]

Soft Serve Ice Milk is served in the buffet but I think there are limited hours for the machine.  The pizza is not that great at the buffet.  But on Encore go treat yourself to a pizza at Onda. OMG.  With the yummy bread it can be your dinner.  Best pizza on the ship but you must pay extra for it inside the restaurant.   I think it all depends on what you mean as "late night."  Late night to me is 8pm LOL  But I dont think the ice milk machine runs very late at the buffet.  They fill it before dinner and once its gone, you will have to wait till the next day.  The Encore also has Gelato but not very late either.

Edited January 23, 2021 by david_sobe

[complawyer]

wrong, the 2 most important things on a ship are (1) the bar (2) the casino.

 

david sobe is corrwct, you can get  the soft serve ice cream almost all the time in the buffet area, and after 10 years of sailing on ncl, you can always order a pizza from room service,  we had a suite on the spirt about 5-6 years ago, and my grandson (who was about 14) at the time, got a real kick out of being able to call the butler and order his pizza

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, GaryWT said:

About to book a cruise on the Encore and the search doesn’t seem to be working.  Looked for but cannot find anything about soft serve ice cream and late night pizza.  Are these offered on the ship as they are always a staple when we cruise. Please let me know if they are available. Thanks

The link below is to my live post from the Encore. You can get an idea on the hours of the buffet. And menus from The Local that is open 24 hours a day for table service. 

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by BirdTravels

[Buford T Justiice]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

And here I thought you were referring to fuel and the Captain's license.

I was ready to add seaworthiness and provisions. 

Edited January 24, 2021 by Buford T Justiice

[Two Wheels Only]

Buoyancy and lobster tails...

[GaryWT]

Thanks all.  I had been reviewing all the menus of all the restaurants and did not see pizza listed.  On Royal and Carnival pizza at midnight or so is a thing we do and soft serve was 24 hours a day.  Someone mentioned paying for pizza but my understanding is it was free but we shall see.  First time on Norwegian so hope it all goes well. 

[SpainAlien]

9 hours ago, GaryWT said:

Thanks all.  I had been reviewing all the menus of all the restaurants and did not see pizza listed.  On Royal and Carnival pizza at midnight or so is a thing we do and soft serve was 24 hours a day.  Someone mentioned paying for pizza but my understanding is it was free but we shall see.  First time on Norwegian so hope it all goes well. 

The room service pizza is not free neither is the pizza at Onda but when the buffet is open then there is free pizza available.  The ice cream stations on any of the ships will I imagine either be manned or closed I should imagine until Covid is in the rear view mirror

 

Go to O'Sheehans or the local though 24 hours a day for a wide selection of meals and desserts just not pizza or soft serve ice cream

 

[adam_s_allen]

The bar and working plumbing rank pretty high on my list.

[HowardK]

Another thing that was really good at the late night buffet were the nachos and cheese sauce.

To me live music venues are the most important thing followed by Spice H20

[Sand and Seas]

6 hours ago, SpainAlien said:

......Go to O'Sheehans or the local though 24 hours a day for a wide selection of meals and desserts just not pizza or soft serve ice cream

 

Yes, we love to go to O'Sheehans or Local for 'comfort' food late night or for a late breakfast.  Love the Thai Wings or a Pub Hot Dog.    And who knew I would love Bangers & Mash or Shepherd Pie?

[DrSea]

On 1/23/2021 at 4:20 PM, AKR2011 said:

In my opinion, O'Sheehan's or The Local (both similar 24 hour venue - nit sure which Encore has) have pizza and ice cream beat. Burgers and hot dogs your way, wings, nachos, desserts...So many options basically 24 hours. I have heard that they close between like 5 and 6am, but they advertise 24 hour service. I've definitely gone 2-3am and have been very satisfied. If you do prefer the buffet, usually there are all kinds of late night snacks and a crepe station until 11:30pm. 

They can be down for like an hour during 4 or 5 am on some of the cruises that I have been on. YMMV

[AstoriaPreppy]

On 1/23/2021 at 7:54 PM, GaryWT said:

Thanks all.  I had been reviewing all the menus of all the restaurants and did not see pizza listed.  On Royal and Carnival pizza at midnight or so is a thing we do and soft serve was 24 hours a day.  

NCL does not offer a 24 hour Pizzaria like Carnival, or Royal Caribbean. 

NCL's late night dining option is O'Sheehans or The Local, which is a sit-down restaurant offering a limited late night menu of pub food including wings, a hot dog, fish and chips, a burger, (and some sketchy fajitas I'd avoid). It's a bit more work than grabbing a slice from Sorento's on the royal promenade, but I've found it to be a great social experience with new (drunk) friends made at the disco. 

 

[MsTabbyKats]

NCL has really good hard ice cream with lots of toppings at the lunch and dinner buffets...just in case you want a change of pace.

I'm pretty sure I saw soft serve available @ evening buffet snack time on the Bliss (not my thing...so not positive).  I'm also pretty sure pizza was there too...but again, not my thing, so no guarantee.

[MrSnarkyPants]

On 1/23/2021 at 3:44 PM, MoCruiseFan said:

The pizza on NCL is FAR superior to the grease soaked ½ raw barely digestable junk on CCL.

That sounds like an improvement over the cardboard covered in cheese dished out at Sorrento's on RCCL.

[lenquixote66]

On 1/23/2021 at 5:20 PM, AKR2011 said:

In my opinion, O'Sheehan's or The Local (both similar 24 hour venue - nit sure which Encore has) have pizza and ice cream beat. Burgers and hot dogs your way, wings, nachos, desserts...So many options basically 24 hours. I have heard that they close between like 5 and 6am, but they advertise 24 hour service. I've definitely gone 2-3am and have been very satisfied. If you do prefer the buffet, usually there are all kinds of late night snacks and a crepe station until 11:30pm. 

We love O’Sheahans and have been there as late as 4 AM

[lenquixote66]

On 1/26/2021 at 4:52 PM, MrSnarkyPants said:

That sounds like an improvement over the cardboard covered in cheese dished out at Sorrento's on RCCL.

In my opinion the pizza served in Sorrento’s is the best pizza I have ever eat on any cruise line.