Norwegian Encore – The Great Cruise Comeback Live

[snorklinbarb]

Just now, snorklinbarb said:

IIRC, it's Mr. Bird putting up this fantastic pictorial review!

 

A couple of questions:  1). Was there a Meet & Greet?  NCL normally does a really nice job with those.  Fun when in the District Brew House!

 

2). Have you caught any shows?  You mentioned seeing Choir of Man before.  How is  Company of Man currently substituted for Kinky Boots?  Any scuttlebutt when the latter will (or if) be returning?  

 

Hope you have a sweet tooth, Bird.😀

 

[psac]

If you happen to get it this week, I would love to see a picture of that tomahawk pork chop from the Haven dinner menu!!

 

thanks!  Enjoy!

Edited August 10, 2021 by psac

[Mintgreen]

12 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Remember, if you are a Club Balcony Suite, you’ll get that free bag of laundry. 

What day/s is this able to be used? Just day 2?

[poly3503]

I am really enjoying this. Thanks for taking the time!

[BirdTravels]

40 minutes ago, Mintgreen said:

What day/s is this able to be used? Just day 2?

Any day. Just consider that it is next-day service. 

[BirdTravels]

Good Morning Icy Strait!

 

Edited August 10, 2021 by BirdTravels

[BirdTravels]

Time to fill that order from Ocean Blue. 
 

[BirdTravels]

[The Traveling Man]

13 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Latitudes Platinum….. behind the scenes tours and dinner with the officers has been suspended due to CDC Covid protocols. 

 

Well that's disappointing.  We always look forward to getting to know the officers when having dinner with them.  Is NCL offering anything in lieu of this Platinum Plus benefit?

[The Traveling Man]

11 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

What a shame Le Bistro replaced their delicious rack of lamb with a measly lamb shank.  Well at least they still have escargot and mushroom soup.

But didn't I see where Cagney's has double-cut lamb chops?  That might be a reasonable substitute, but I agree with you, I always loved having the rack of lamb in Le Bistro.  I'll really miss it.

[zerooveride]

Curious, do they have Wheel of Fortune slots in the casino? What denominations? Are they the digital screen ones or the ones with actual wheels for symbols? Our local casino has the $0.25 ones with 5 lines that I enjoy.

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, snorklinbarb said:

IIRC, it's Mr. Bird putting up this fantastic pictorial review!

 

A couple of questions:  1). Was there a Meet & Greet?  NCL normally does a really nice job with those.  Fun when in the District Brew House!

 

2). Have you caught any shows?  You mentioned seeing Choir of Man before.  How is that Company of Man being substituted for Kinky Boots?  Any scuttlebutt when the latter will (or if) be returning?  

 

Hope you have a sweet tooth, Bird.😀

The Cruise Critic Roll Call did a super job at coordinating a Meet and Greet!

 

CruiseNext did a Latitudes party. 
 

Kinky Boots is being filled with random guest performers. Comedy Magician Jean Pierre. Melissa McLaughlin Squins Soul. 

The theater stage is the crew’s Covid bubble. 

 

Audience members for the magic show had to hand sanitizer before going on stage and glove-up before touching cards. The magician had to put his mask back on when interacting with dirty passengers. 
 

Choir of Man did not allow you to have a beer with the cast before the show. But, they did send free cups of beer from the set out to the audience. When waiters were late, the performer made note that he was breaking all of the Covid rules by leaving the stage and dropping beer off himself. 

[BirdTravels]

12 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

Well that's disappointing.  We always look forward to getting to know the officers when having dinner with them.  Is NCL offering anything in lieu of this Platinum Plus benefit?

Nope. CDC did not approve NCL’s plan to have the two events. 
 

FWIW Royal also cancelled their BtS tours last month also. 
 

For the past couple of years, the Dinner has been cancelled on our Alaska cruises due to the lack of interest. 

Edited August 10, 2021 by BirdTravels

[The Traveling Man]

3 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

For the past couple of years, the Dinner has been cancelled on our Alaska cruises due to the lack of interest. 

Our most recent Alaska cruise was on the Joy in late June 2019.  There were about 4000 passengers, of whom more than 3000 were NCL first-timers.  There were a few hundred Bronze, 200 or so Silver, a few dozen Gold, a handful of Platinum, just four of us Platinum Plus, and no Ambassadors.  Evidently the other Plus couple didn't care to have dinner with an officer, so my wife and I spent a wonderful evening in Le Bistro with GM Djamel and Cruise Next Manager Tauran. 

[ebay33]

29 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

Our most recent Alaska cruise was on the Joy in late June 2019.  There were about 4000 passengers, of whom more than 3000 were NCL first-timers.  There were a few hundred Bronze, 200 or so Silver, a few dozen Gold, a handful of Platinum, just four of us Platinum Plus, and no Ambassadors.  Evidently the other Plus couple didn't care to have dinner with an officer, so my wife and I spent a wonderful evening in Le Bistro with GM Djamel and Cruise Next Manager Tauran. 

 

WOW!

[BirdTravels]

12 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

What a shame Le Bistro replaced their delicious rack of lamb with a measly lamb shank.  Well at least they still have escargot and mushroom soup.

Yes! They keep doing that. The lamb chop was our entree of choice for years.
 

Then they switched to veal medallions with some weird seasoning. We actually watched them prepare the veal medallions taking the rack of lamb, cutting away the bone (leaving some meat on the bone) and tossing it in the trash. It was criminal. 
 

Now it is a “shank and chop”… no idea what that means. 

[Jenjohncourt]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Nope. CDC did not approve NCL’s plan to have the two events. 
 

FWIW Royal also cancelled their BtS tours last month also. 
 

For the past couple of years, the Dinner has been cancelled on our Alaska cruises due to the lack of interest. 

Interesting that they still have the self serve buffet but won’t do the Behind the Scenes Tour! 

[MrMike45]

What's the general atmosphere/attitude of the staff and other workers?  Is it a giant relief/sense of happiness to be back to some sort of normalcy? A giant family reunion of sorts?

[Quencups]

Thank you for doing this Bird!......Great to see your live!!..sorry if you answered this already, what is NCL's policy on returning to the ship from port...does everyone have to get re-tested?  and what if, God forbid, you test positive?

 

Thanks!!

[BirdTravels]

Touch less facial recognition being used to sign off and on the ship. 

 

[BirdTravels]

2 minutes ago, Quencups said:

Thank you for doing this Bird!......Great to see your live!!..sorry if you answered this already, what is NCL's policy on returning to the ship from port...does everyone have to get re-tested?  and what if, God forbid, you test positive?

 

Thanks!!

No testing beyond initial embarkation. 

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, Jenjohncourt said:

Interesting that they still have the self serve buffet but won’t do the Behind the Scenes Tour! 

Yes. Passengers dirty. The crew have been in their Covid bubble for several months. Many coming from the Joy in specially chartered planes. The crew still have to wear masks any time they are near the dirty passengers. And the Covid protocols minimize the places and times dirty passengers can be in crew areas. Having dirty passengers wandering through crew spaces not allowed under current protocols. 
 

Just for reference, the Chinese buffet in our town has been self serve for a while. 

[BirdTravels]

This is a brand new purpose built dock for NCL in Icy Strait. Everyone needs to catch the Transporter gondola over to the old cruise ship terminal (it’s about a 15 minute hike (kinda muddy today)) if you walk it. 
 

So, on a full ship, 4500 passengers need to get into a 8 (or less) passenger pod for a 4 minute ride to the main terminal. 
 

[sid_9169]

This is bringing back great memories of my last cruise prior to the pandemic, also on the Encore in December 2019... 

[Jenjohncourt]

21 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Yes. Passengers dirty. The crew have been in their Covid bubble for several months. Many coming from the Joy in specially chartered planes. The crew still have to wear masks any time they are near the dirty passengers. And the Covid protocols minimize the places and times dirty passengers can be in crew areas. Having dirty passengers wandering through crew spaces not allowed under current protocols. 
 

Just for reference, the Chinese buffet in our town has been self serve for a while. 

Thanks. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. I hope you’re having a fantastic time. I can’t wait to get on the ship.