Encore Mar 26 - Apr 2, Great Cruise! But our last with NCL (for now)

[truckswain]

We sail Royal and Celebrity most often and were on Symphony of the Seas in September.  This was our 3rd NCL cruise having been on the Escape twice before, which were fantastic cruises.

 

The Encore is a beautiful ship, well designed with closed in smoking areas.

 

The staff were excellent!  Everyone we interacted were pleasant and seemed quite happy.  The food was also excellent, much better than Royal in our opinion.  NCL has freestyle dining down to a science.  Never waited for a table for breakfast or dinner at the main dining rooms.  Routinely watched large groups of 10 or more get seated quickly and with no drama.  That would never happen on Royal.

 

Specialty dining was excellent.  We did Cagney, Onda, Le Bistro and Q.  We used the dining package for all 4 and the options were explained clearly and the food was plentiful and excellent.

 

However, for our cruising preferences, the cost cutting measures NCL has implemented has negatively impacted the cruise experience.

 

Live muster -I know they are moving back to E-Muster, but the rationale that it was safer for guests was a lie, it was a cost cutting measure, and it reflects poorly.

Cabin cleaning- Once a day is not acceptable and to say it is to help the environment is a lie.  It is for cost cutting.  We saw our cabin steward once and he looked haggard.  We did not request the usual simple items we normally do as we felt bad for him.  We understood a couple of items delivered to our cabin by mistake as he seemed over worked.

Entertainment- It is clear that this where NCL is saving the most money.  Choir of Man is excellent but it is now the headline show on several ships which is ridiculous and only sailing NCL three times we have seen this show many times.  The Beatles Invasion was very good but one show is enough.  The comedian was good but that can be hit or miss.  The other live music was just bad.  
 

Everyone is saying they need to make these changes to recover from the pandemic shutdown.  To me, NCL should be dramatically improving the customer experience, not reducing it, to ensure full ships and future bookings. I would never say never to another NCL cruise, but right now there are better options for our cruising dollar.

[debenson0723]

Thanks for your honest review.  I have been on Encore twice and have enjoyed it both times.  Just a few comments:  Choir of Man is only on the Encore and the Escape so that was luck of the draw for you. Other ships have Jersey Boys, Six, Burn the Floor, Footloose and more. Some sort of Beatles variation seem to be on every NCL ship I have been on (except Prima) and I am getting a little burned out on them. I will go see them once maybe, to compare them, but I am about done with them.

 

And so you are aware, I just read multiple reviews of the recent Symphony of the Seas TA and it was along the same lines.  Service is being cut back to once a day, cutbacks to Entertainment and the food quality is horrible (so they said) so if you didn't care for Royal's food before, it might be even harder for you. Looks like Celebrity (or a new line) might be your only option, 

 

I am getting ready to do a 2 week land vacation and while airfare and hotel costs are in line with what I would pay for a cruise, the food and excursions are going to be my budget buster. I am seeing why I get a better bang for my vacation buck on a ship.

[mjkacmom]

I think carnival and RCL are down to once a day cleaning too.

[joestein514]

18 minutes ago, debenson0723 said:

Thanks for your honest review.  I have been on Encore twice and have enjoyed it both times.  Just a few comments:  Choir of Man is only on the Encore and the Escape so that was luck of the draw for you. Other ships have Jersey Boys, Six, Burn the Floor, Footloose and more. Some sort of Beatles variation seem to be on every NCL ship I have been on (except Prima) and I am getting a little burned out on them. I will go see them once maybe, to compare them, but I am about done with them.

 

And so you are aware, I just read multiple reviews of the recent Symphony of the Seas TA and it was along the same lines.  Service is being cut back to once a day, cutbacks to Entertainment and the food quality is horrible (so they said) so if you didn't care for Royal's food before, it might be even harder for you. Looks like Celebrity (or a new line) might be your only option, 

 

I am getting ready to do a 2 week land vacation and while airfare and hotel costs are in line with what I would pay for a cruise, the food and excursions are going to be my budget buster. I am seeing why I get a better bang for my vacation buck on a ship.

 

 

I have only been cruising on NCL once before... June 22 on the NCL Breakaway.   Most of my more recent cruises are with RCL.   The main difference I noted between the entertainment is that NCL seems to have this rotating group of 3 or 4 performers who do their thing for 45 mins and leave to perform elsewhere.  Then a new act comes on.

 

On RCL - I know that a performer will be at a specific revenue for the whole cruise at specific times.   An example is Nick at the Schooner Bar on Harmony of the Seas.   He was there every night from 9pm - midnight.   He did take 15 min breaks each hour.  We enjoyed ending our night each day at the Schooner Bar with people with met at the pool.  Sometimes we would all head over the pub where the music continued to 1am each day.   

 

I really enjoyed that setup much more.   Also too much takes place in the Atrium on NCL - it is such an bad event space - too much traffic moving through - the opposite of an intimate space.

[brookie848]

1 hour ago, mjkacmom said:

I think carnival and RCL are down to once a day cleaning too.

Yep. Definitely are and people are not happy about it over on that board, either.

[truckswain]

7 hours ago, debenson0723 said:

Thanks for your honest review.  I have been on Encore twice and have enjoyed it both times.  Just a few comments:  Choir of Man is only on the Encore and the Escape so that was luck of the draw for you. Other ships have Jersey Boys, Six, Burn the Floor, Footloose and more. Some sort of Beatles variation seem to be on every NCL ship I have been on (except Prima) and I am getting a little burned out on them. I will go see them once maybe, to compare them, but I am about done with them.

 

And so you are aware, I just read multiple reviews of the recent Symphony of the Seas TA and it was along the same lines.  Service is being cut back to once a day, cutbacks to Entertainment and the food quality is horrible (so they said) so if you didn't care for Royal's food before, it might be even harder for you. Looks like Celebrity (or a new line) might be your only option, 

 

I am getting ready to do a 2 week land vacation and while airfare and hotel costs are in line with what I would pay for a cruise, the food and excursions are going to be my budget buster. I am seeing why I get a better bang for my vacation buck on a ship.

 I believe those that are loyal or have status with NCL will be able to overlook some of what I commented on.  And so they should as NCL still provides an enjoyable vacation.

 

It was my understanding that Jersey Boys, Footloose, Burn the floor have all been removed, I am glad they have not.

 

We were on the Symphony in September and they had not started the one time a day cabin cleaning.  They also did not jack up the daily service charge/gratuity like NCL and then reduce service.  Symphony had some of the best entertainment we have seen on RCL ships.  I would not call the food horrible on Symphony but it is not as good as NCL, in my opinion.

 

 

[MSUjohn]

i am platinum with NCL, and the sailing experience is notably different (and not for the better) post COVID vs pre Covid.

 

i for one do not care about room cleaning being reduced to once a day.

 

but live entertainment i have noticed has suffered the most. no cirque du soleil no aerialists, no elements.

 

food seems a bit tweaked down too.

 

however it is probably all lines as they are all being crushed in covid debt. that said i still thing cruising is great value for the money.

 

 

[adoris]

8 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

I think carnival and RCL are down to once a day cleaning too.

My HAL Mexican Riviera on Koningsdam in November 2022 I was advised by my cabin steward that cabin cleaning was once a day and he asked if I preferred morning or evening.

[BirdTravels]

9 hours ago, truckswain said:

Cabin cleaning- Once a day is not acceptable and to say it is to help the environment is a lie.  It is for cost cutting.  We saw our cabin steward once and he looked haggard.  We did not request the usual simple items we normally do as we felt bad for him.  We understood a couple of items delivered to our cabin by mistake as he seemed over worked.

Royal has gone to once a day cleaning also. The room steward used to work from 8 am to 9 pm, split shift with a couple of hours off to eat and change into their evening uniform. Now they work from 8 am to 5-6 pm with a few more rooms. They actually do less work now. 

[BirdTravels]

9 hours ago, truckswain said:

Live muster -I know they are moving back to E-Muster, but the rationale that it was safer for guests was a lie, it was a cost cutting measure, and it reflects poorly.

A live muster is a requirement. Doing a virtual muster was exception. Not sure how they are going back to an e-muster. It is totally safer to have passengers in their muster station versus swiping as they walk by. 

[Encore37]

I completely agree with the live music on NCL.  They used to have great live music around the ship.  I just got off the Encore as well and I thought the live music was pathetic.  Also, the bartenders were very understaffed and overworked!

[Denversail]

8 hours ago, truckswain said:

 I believe those that are loyal or have status with NCL will be able to overlook some of what I commented on.  And so they should as NCL still provides an enjoyable vacation.

 

It was my understanding that Jersey Boys, Footloose, Burn the floor have all been removed, I am glad they have not.

 

We were on the Symphony in September and they had not started the one time a day cabin cleaning.  They also did not jack up the daily service charge/gratuity like NCL and then reduce service.  Symphony had some of the best entertainment we have seen on RCL ships.  I would not call the food horrible on Symphony but it is not as good as NCL, in my opinion.

 

 

They actually did exactly that. It just happened after your September cruise.

[truckswain]

9 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

A live muster is a requirement. Doing a virtual muster was exception. Not sure how they are going back to an e-muster. It is totally safer to have passengers in their muster station versus swiping as they walk by. 

I don't believe that a live muster is a requirement.  Several cruise lines adopted the E-muster and have not returned to the live muster.  My point being NCL has not been transparent in their reason for going back to the live muster and then back to the E-muster

[njkate]

Thanks for taking time to review. 
I was on Dawn last week and all though it’s not a ship like Escape i noticed. Cabin service once a day and my steward looked burnt, only saw her once not like prior cruises. Food was meh, entertainment was meh except for the comic. 
 

I get the covid impact but I also get the cruise lines are all foreign flagged, therefore they don’t abide by US labor laws. They have a soon to retire heavily compensated CEO.

 

Here is the statement the NCL cheerleaders will jump on me, it’s not my or any other cruisers responsibility to keep NCL afloat, they go belly up oh well there are other cruise lines, there are other forms of vacation 

 

Giving them one more shot in August on an Alaskan cruise if that one is severely lacking I’ll be cancelling my trans Atlantic for April 2024

[truckswain]

2 hours ago, Denversail said:

They actually did exactly that. It just happened after your September cruise.

You are correct.  I should have clarified that NCL reduced services and increased their daily service charge to the highest of the three major cruise lines by a significant amount.

[joestein514]

3 hours ago, truckswain said:

You are correct.  I should have clarified that NCL reduced services and increased their daily service charge to the highest of the three major cruise lines by a significant amount.

 

Between the service charges on the drink package and the daily charges - I think NCL makes most of their profit off service charges.

[mjkacmom]

15 minutes ago, joestein514 said:

 

Between the service charges on the drink package and the daily charges - I think NCL makes most of their profit off service charges.

But most other lines charge much more for their drink package and add a gratuity.

[ChiefMateJRK]

5 hours ago, njkate said:

Here is the statement the NCL cheerleaders will jump on me, it’s not my or any other cruisers responsibility to keep NCL afloat, they go belly up oh well there are other cruise lines, there are other forms of vacation 

Isn't it paying customers that keep all businesses afloat?

[njkate]

51 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Isn't it paying customers that keep all businesses afloat?

Afloat yes, bail out, the words I should have used versus afloat, by reduced services and higher fees, no and for me that applies to all businesses. I’d be more sympathetic if during shut down and no sailings that con man in a 3 piece suit ceo had taken a substantial pay cut but that’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it

Edited April 3, 2023 by njkate

[MSUjohn]

19 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Royal has gone to once a day cleaning also. The room steward used to work from 8 am to 9 pm, split shift with a couple of hours off to eat and change into their evening uniform. Now they work from 8 am to 5-6 pm with a few more rooms. They actually do less work now. 

a straight shift is soooo much better than a split shift.