COME SAIL AWAY... FINALLY! Live Review of NCL Encore Alaska 8/21-8/28

[Old & Retired]

8 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

Well that's kind of snarky, isn't it?  It's sort of like saying someone has less stress because they live in a comfortable house instead of a ramshackle hut.  Well, they paid for their comfort and convenience, while others did not.  Don't be envious or jealous.  If someone paid roughly double for a stateroom in the Haven, then they deserve all of the benefits that come with it.  If someone pays for an NCL shorex and one of the benefits is that they get to be first off the ship and first in line for transportation, then so be it.  They paid for it.  If someone has sailed with NCL often enough to reach Platinum Plus Latitudes status, one of their benefits is that they get to go to the front of the line for the theater and other entertainment venues.  That's NCL's policy.  They earned it, so don't be envious.

The point being, they were saying how great the port visit was, low stress, easy movement here to there.  Turns out they cut the line.  That's just the fact.  Comparing your 'low stress' experience to the other 80% of passengers who didn't get to cut the line is rubbing salt in the wound and a bit disingenuous. I am not jealous in the least.  You pay for privilege. However, you can't compare a Haven stress free cruise to a deck 5 inside cabin high stress experience.  It's apples and orange.

[alohayall]

10 hours ago, Old & Retired said:

So you had less stress because you cut the line.

Nope.  They had less stress because they have an easy-going, positive outlook on life.  You can read it in their words and responses to other people.  
 

They still waited 40 minutes for their group’s turn to use the gondola. 

[aubreyc1988]

5 hours ago, alohayall said:

Nope.  They had less stress because they have an easy-going, positive outlook on life.  You can read it in their words and responses to other people.  
 

They still waited 40 minutes for their group’s turn to use the gondola. 

exactly. I'll be doing a review and I'm sure be sure to post pictures of me waiting cheerfully for the gondola. 

[NikiPinkston]

16 hours ago, Old & Retired said:

So you had less stress because you cut the line.

I guess so....But we thought everyone with tours was "cutting the line."  It makes sense that they would expedite your crossing on the gondola if there's a deadline to get to your tour.  We actually could have waited in line because we had a wait at the ZipRider base, but we didn't know that & just did as we were told.  I just felt bad for @karatemom2 because she didn't receive the same treatment.  Don't hate the messenger.

[NikiPinkston]

15 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

Well that's kind of snarky, isn't it?  It's sort of like saying someone has less stress because they live in a comfortable house instead of a ramshackle hut.  Well, they paid for their comfort and convenience, while others did not.  Don't be envious or jealous.  If someone paid roughly double for a stateroom in the Haven, then they deserve all of the benefits that come with it.  If someone pays for an NCL shorex and one of the benefits is that they get to be first off the ship and first in line for transportation, then so be it.  They paid for it.  If someone has sailed with NCL often enough to reach Platinum Plus Latitudes status, one of their benefits is that they get to go to the front of the line for the theater and other entertainment venues.  That's NCL's policy.  They earned it, so don't be envious.

Thank you @The Traveling Man.  Chivalry is not dead!

[karatemom2]

4 minutes ago, NikiPinkston said:

I guess so....But we thought everyone with tours was "cutting the line."  It makes sense that they would expedite your crossing on the gondola if there's a deadline to get to your tour.  We actually could have waited in line because we had a wait at the ZipRider base, but we didn't know that & just did as we were told.  I just felt bad for @karatemom2 because she didn't receive the same treatment.  Don't hate the messenger.

 
Thank you for saying this - and I didn’t fault the people on ship tours who were being escorted to the front of the gondola line ahead of us. We actually saw two different groups going to the front led by the NCL Shorex staff. First, you do pay for that privilege and second, they were scrambling to get things on track as well because we were so late. I was just stressed and frustrated because we were trying so hard to reach our private tour and kept running into one obstacle after another. But fortunately everything worked out in the end. My only point is that NCL needs to do some work on smoothing out this process at ISP because it’s a mess. I hope they figure it out before they start running with a full ship!

[trivimp]

17 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

exactly. I'll be doing a review and I'm sure be sure to post pictures of me waiting cheerfully for the gondola. 

I want to cruise with Aubrey 🙂 Great attitude!

 

Seriously, people, it's like the second or third (*) time that this new port complex has been used... if you think it's going to be running like clockwork at this point, you don't really understand the process, I think.  Your choices are: 1) be glad that you are cruising again on one of the earliest sailings or 2) wait a while & sail later, when stuff will no doubt be smoother.

 

* Depending on if you are counting the test cruise 

[NikiPinkston]

7 hours ago, Old & Retired said:

The point being, they were saying how great the port visit was, low stress, easy movement here to there.  Turns out they cut the line.  That's just the fact.  Comparing your 'low stress' experience to the other 80% of passengers who didn't get to cut the line is rubbing salt in the wound and a bit disingenuous. I am not jealous in the least.  You pay for privilege. However, you can't compare a Haven stress free cruise to a deck 5 inside cabin high stress experience.  It's apples and orange.

FYI we weren't in the Haven, and putting us in a "fast-track" line for the gondola was done by the ZipRider tour operator and, at the time, we thought that all of the passengers who had tours were being moved to the head of that line.  That would make sense & I feel sorry for those passengers who didn't get that benefit & had to stress about meeting their tours.  We certainly didn't expect any special treatment; we just did as we were told.  For us, the disembarkation process was not that different from some previous experiences we had had but we didn't let the crowd or the waiting bother us, and we had a 40-minute wait at the tour base before our tour due to the ship's late arrival, but that was okay, too.  (We had gone down early to wait on Deck 6 so that we were closer to the gangway when they gave the all clear, so maybe that helped, too.)  We were just so ecstatic to be on board again that I don't think much could have bothered us.   I didn't mean to make anyone feel bad; I was just relaying our experience to let others know that some people had a pretty good experience & maybe there was hope for them. 😀 We had fun on the ZipRider & were happy just to sit by the fire pit in ISP afterward & enjoy the beautiful scenery so, yes, we had a great time.  Namaste, @Old & Retired.  

Edited August 26, 2021 by NikiPinkston
added something

[NikiPinkston]

5 hours ago, alohayall said:

Nope.  They had less stress because they have an easy-going, positive outlook on life.  You can read it in their words and responses to other people.  
 

They still waited 40 minutes for their group’s turn to use the gondola. 

Ah, thank you, @alohayall.  There are really some kind & wonderful people on Cruise Critic!

[L0bsterl0ver]

Sooooo ,  moving on......... has anyone tried the Lobster dinner at Ocean blue yet? 

[NikiPinkston]

37 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

exactly. I'll be doing a review and I'm sure be sure to post pictures of me waiting cheerfully for the gondola. 

 

16 minutes ago, trivimp said:

I want to cruise with Aubrey 🙂 Great attitude!

We'd love to cruise with both of you! 💗

[aubreyc1988]

16 minutes ago, NikiPinkston said:

 

We'd love to cruise with both of you! 💗

I'm sure as much as I cruise, we will meet one day onboard! 

[brad0576]

Any chance you could pic and post one of your sea-day FreeStyle Dailies?

[The Traveling Man]

3 hours ago, NikiPinkston said:

Thank you @The Traveling Man.  Chivalry is not dead!

Thank you for the response.  It really means a lot.  Hope we see you on some future cruise.  To echo what someone else said about your apparent lack of stress, you really do seem to be very laid back folks.  I hope that in ISP and Ketchikan this coming week we can keep our cool as well as you did.

[Cruising Lynne]

3 hours ago, karatemom2 said:

 
Thank you for saying this - and I didn’t fault the people on ship tours who were being escorted to the front of the gondola line ahead of us. We actually saw two different groups going to the front led by the NCL Shorex staff. First, you do pay for that privilege and second, they were scrambling to get things on track as well because we were so late. I was just stressed and frustrated because we were trying so hard to reach our private tour and kept running into one obstacle after another. But fortunately everything worked out in the end. My only point is that NCL needs to do some work on smoothing out this process at ISP because it’s a mess. I hope they figure it out before they start running with a full ship!

I always wonder why they don't open a second gangway more often. We had a similar experience trying to get off a Royal ship (Serenade of the Seas) in Canada. It was like they had never had a late arrival before. They had us in a long line running down the promenade deck. Only good thing was, it helped keep the stairs clear while we waited.

[gknep]

I'm on the Sep 11 Encore Alaska sailing and my attitude is that once I'm on the ship I don't care. Late to a port, I don't care. Line to get off, I don't care. Ward Cove, I don't care. I'm just excited to be back cruising. 

[KAYKAY121]

13 minutes ago, gknep said:

I'm on the Sep 11 Encore Alaska sailing and my attitude is that once I'm on the ship I don't care. Late to a port, I don't care. Line to get off, I don't care. Ward Cove, I don't care. I'm just excited to be back cruising. 

PREACH!!

[drumexpert510]

4 hours ago, L0bsterl0ver said:

Sooooo ,  moving on......... has anyone tried the Lobster dinner at Ocean blue yet? 

We are doing that tomorrow night!

[drumexpert510]

Sawyer Glacier and Tracey Arm:

 

It was a beautiful float to the glacier and seeing the ice chunks floating was an awesome sight. We sat up in the Observation Lounge which got PACKED so if you want to be there then get there early. The front of the ship on deck 8 was open for this event and was a great way to see the glacier clearly and to “feel it” as well. 
 

Make sure you bring some binoculars as you are not “SUPER” close to the glacier. There is a tour that takes you right up to it but it leaves from Juneau and is about 5 hours on the tour boat... in that time I was able to go get lunch, go to the spa, shower and sit in the lounge with some drinks. That was my preference but to each their own. It is definitely a site to behold! 
 

 

[drumexpert510]

Juneau:

 

We actually didn’t get into town for Juneau. We took a private tour from Liquid Alaska and did the paddle and Mendenhall Glacier excursion. 
 

They pick us up at 7am right at the ship and drove us to the launch site. All there equipment is well maintained and our guides Mario and Casey were very knowledgeable, helpful and informative. We launched the 20 person boat and paddled about 2 miles to the face of the glacier where we hiked around. 
 

We were originally suppose to

trek the glacier but last week that had huge glacial flooding and the glacier reversed around 50 foot over night. It is now unsafe to

trek the face. The only way to get ON it is by helicopter currently. We were still able to get close enough to touch it though, an amazing experience! 
 

After the paddle back, Liquid Alaska had warm drinks and got us back to the ship in time for sail way.... I 1000% recommend doing this. It is my 2nd time and I would keep doing it! 

 

THE BEST WAY TO SEE AND TOUCH A GLACIER ON YOUR TRIP (for

your money)!

[Baxter68]

5 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

exactly. I'll be doing a review and I'm sure be sure to post pictures of me waiting cheerfully for the gondola. 

That morning cocktail sounds like a good idea for the easy going attitude!

[Baxter68]

5 hours ago, NikiPinkston said:

FYI we weren't in the Haven, and putting us in a "fast-track" line for the gondola was done by the ZipRider tour operator and, at the time, we thought that all of the passengers who had tours were being moved to the head of that line.  That would make sense & I feel sorry for those passengers who didn't get that benefit & had to stress about meeting their tours.  We certainly didn't expect any special treatment; we just did as we were told.  For us, the disembarkation process was not that different from some previous experiences we had had but we didn't let the crowd or the waiting bother us, and we had a 40-minute wait at the tour base before our tour due to the ship's late arrival, but that was okay, too.  (We had gone down early to wait on Deck 6 so that we were closer to the gangway when they gave the all clear, so maybe that helped, too.)  We were just so ecstatic to be on board again that I don't think much could have bothered us.   I didn't mean to make anyone feel bad; I was just relaying our experience to let others know that some people had a pretty good experience & maybe there was hope for them. 😀 We had fun on the ZipRider & were happy just to sit by the fire pit in ISP afterward & enjoy the beautiful scenery so, yes, we had a great time.  Namaste, @Old & Retired.  

I don’t think you need to explain yourself!! All makes sense to me and you’re just sharing your experience and the facts of what happened, or what you observed. We go on the last sailing, October 16th, and I’m prepared for the weather not being that great, for the ports to be just a bonus if they work out, and I’m just going to enjoy being on the ship!

[Baxter68]

1 hour ago, gknep said:

I'm on the Sep 11 Encore Alaska sailing and my attitude is that once I'm on the ship I don't care. Late to a port, I don't care. Line to get off, I don't care. Ward Cove, I don't care. I'm just excited to be back cruising. 

My sentiments exactly for our October 16th sailing.

Edited August 26, 2021 by Baxter68

[KruzPrincess]

On 8/24/2021 at 10:12 PM, drumexpert510 said:

I forget to put the pictures of disembark for Icy Strait... see below.

WOW. And this is a ship not filled to capacity, right? 

[ChiefMateJRK]

12 minutes ago, KruzPrincess said:

WOW. And this is a ship not filled to capacity, right? 

It's like getting off an airplane.  If we're in our own row and have no place to be, I generally just sit back, relax and wait for the crowd to thin.  With the relatively small number of ISP shore excursion options, I'm guessing the majority of those folks were just trying to get to town ten minutes before the next guy (for whatever urgent reason, I can't imagine).