Encore to replace the Bliss for 2021 Alaska Cruises?

[MichiganBound]

3 hours ago, BamaCruiser39 said:

As much as I love NCL and wanted to jump on the Alaska sailings after my Gem got cancelled, I simply cannot trust them with any more of my money until I see cruises actually go as scheduled for a few months.

Well said.  I decided months ago that I was not going to cruise in 2021.  Period.  No matter what.  Way too much uncertainty.  Is the cruise on or off?  We are sailing out of La Romana...oh wait...we are sailing out of Seattle now.  It's the Bliss....oops now it's the Encore.  Next week it will be some other ship.  Are sailings out of Florida ever gonna happen?  Who knows?

 

I'm so happy to be on the sidelines and let others be the guinea pigs when the cruises eventually start.  I've started looking at possible cruises in 2022 but won't book anything until I see cruises are up and running successfully for a few months.

[SSFun]

22 minutes ago, lux4me said:

The Aug 7 sailing that was on the bliss is now showing not available.  

I called NCL and they advised the bookings are frozen.   they have no other info

Looks like they have removed all 2021 Alaska sailings. I went to do a mock booking and there were no 2021 Alaska cruises, only 2022 and beyond.

[jmele999]

17 minutes ago, lux4me said:

The Aug 7 sailing that was on the bliss is now showing not available.  

I called NCL and they advised the bookings are frozen.   they have no other info

Not related to the Bliss/Encore, but we are in a similar situation with the Jade out of Athens - all of the sailings are currently frozen, and supposedly it is because they are going to replace the Jade with another ship of the same class.   NCL has a big problem with communication.  A single statement on social media would help to prevent all of this confusion. 

[roger001]

They are now showing the Bliss, Encore, and Sun all sailing Alaska from Seattle in May 2022, and then the Spirit then joining them in July.  That seems a bit saturated.  

[RaftingJeremy]

So I’m being told the same thing as above.  They are going to switch everything to encore and it will be just a ship swap.  

[DCGuy64]

18 minutes ago, jmele999 said:

Not related to the Bliss/Encore, but we are in a similar situation with the Jade out of Athens - all of the sailings are currently frozen, and supposedly it is because they are going to replace the Jade with another ship of the same class.   NCL has a big problem with communication.  A single statement on social media would help to prevent all of this confusion. 

That's not accurate, I just went to the NCL website and Jade is bookable, not frozen.

[RaftingJeremy]

19 minutes ago, jmele999 said:

Not related to the Bliss/Encore, but we are in a similar situation with the Jade out of Athens - all of the sailings are currently frozen, and supposedly it is because they are going to replace the Jade with another ship of the same class.   NCL has a big problem with communication.  A single statement on social media would help to prevent all of this confusion. 

Agree 100

[ShakeDaddy]

Wow great intel work and a pleasant surprise!! 

 

Never been on Encore and now triple excited for our August 7 Alaska cruise.  

[SSFun]

Being it is an Alaskan cruise, do they still sell Vibe passes? Would a Vibe pass be worth the $ on an Alaskan cruise? Seems like a lot of money to fight for a seat in limited hot tub space. Maybe if they are selling spa passes that might be worth the extra money?

[Alegeeter]

2 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

That's not accurate, I just went to the NCL website and Jade is bookable, not frozen.

Jade sailings were originally starting July 25, now the first one available is August 29. Our guess is that they're pushing the season back and won't be ready to sail by July.

[jmele999]

9 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

That's not accurate, I just went to the NCL website and Jade is bookable, not frozen.

You can only book the August 29th sailing.  The other sailings are frozen or not available

[aubreyc1988]

7 minutes ago, SSFun said:

Being it is an Alaskan cruise, do they still sell Vibe passes? Would a Vibe pass be worth the $ on an Alaskan cruise? Seems like a lot of money to fight for a seat in limited hot tub space. Maybe if they are selling spa passes that might be worth the extra money?

I am sure they still Vibe passes, but honestly for Alaskan sailings it isn't worth it. I don't think spa passes would be worth it either, but it depends on the person, I like to spend time watching for wildlife 

[DCGuy64]

5 minutes ago, jmele999 said:

You can only book the August 29th sailing.  The other sailings are frozen or not available

Yes, I see that one. Your original post said ALL sailings were frozen, and the 29th is still there. Which is weird, for sure.

[aubreyc1988]

I'm still seeing Sept 2021 Alaska being bookable???? 

[DCGuy64]

39 minutes ago, SSFun said:

Looks like they have removed all 2021 Alaska sailings. I went to do a mock booking and there were no 2021 Alaska cruises, only 2022 and beyond.

They must have been doing maintenance on the site, because I just looked up Alaska sailings for 2021 and August is there, just fine. It may have been temporarily moved when you were there but it's back up now.

[BirdTravels]

3 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

They must have been doing maintenance on the site, because I just looked up Alaska sailings for 2021 and August is there, just fine. It may have been temporarily moved when you were there but it's back up now.

Yeah, but if you do a mock booking, everything is SOLD OUT.  Normally, that is indicative of a cancellation in progress. Hopefully it is only a ship swap. 
 

We like Onda on the Encore. We last sailed on her in Nov 2019.  

[RaftingJeremy]

3 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Yeah, but if you do a mock booking, everything is SOLD OUT.  Normally, that is indicative of a cancellation in progress. Hopefully it is only a ship swap. 
 

We like Onda on the Encore. We last sailed on her in Nov 2019.  

I did a mock and the only one  that was sold out was the August 7.  My pcc said they would be moving things over to encore so that could be why.   

[DCGuy64]

2 minutes ago, RaftingJeremy said:

I did a mock and the only one  that was sold out was the August 7.  My pcc said they would be moving things over to encore so that could be why.   

Yeah, same with me, August 21-28 is bookable--for now.

[CroozFanatic]

Hope not for lux4me, but could be they need an extra week to prepare and they will start on 8/14. Pure speculation.

[SSFun]

41 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I'm still seeing Sept 2021 Alaska being bookable???? 

Yes, they are there now. Maybe I hit a wrong button last time. 🤪

[lux4me]

fingers crossed  

[SSFun]

Very strange, now all August 2021 sailings say sold out except 8/14-21 that says not available.

[logan25]

33 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Yeah, same with me, August 21-28 is bookable--for now.

Take your pick:

 

Bliss

 

August 7. Sold Out

August 14  Not Available

August 21. Sold Out
August 28. Sold Out

[DCGuy64]

7 minutes ago, logan25 said:

Take your pick:

 

Bliss

 

August 7. Sold Out

August 14  Not Available

August 21. Sold Out
August 28. Sold Out

All cabin classes were available on the August 21st sailing, so it's clear they're up to something. No way they sold out of all cabins in the last 20 minutes, LOL.

[Jonslola]

I just tried a mock booking for my sailing on Aug 21st and it is indeed showing it as sold out. Interesting developments.... lol