Our March 26, 2023 review of NCL Encore

[RN_Prof]

My wife and I are frequent cruisers with NCL; with this trip, we are now Latitude Platinum Members. We have sailed on the Pride of Aloha, Pearl, Epic, Breakaway, Bliss, and now the Encore. We are in our 50s, and I have a back injury and use a rolling walker or cane to get around. We like the ship's layout, but besides the bright exterior paint scheme, we found the interior rather dull (But that does not influence our cruise experience). The ship is mostly ADA-compliant, but it was difficult to get my walker in and out of our cabin (which was a standard cabin), and getting an elevator is hard at times.

 

On this trip, we got a Spa Balcony because it had access to the Thermal Spa, which is a must in my book. We think the general pool deck is too crowded and loud for our taste, and we prefer the quieter atmosphere of the spa. Except for sea days, the Thermal Spa was not crowded, and you could get a lounge chair or heated bench without a problem. The staff asked a few groups to quiet down, but it is not a bad place to relax and read (or listen to) a book. The only thing I found odd was the locker room did not offer many amenities. Our cabin had a better selection of soap, shampoo, conditioner, and hand lotion.  The fitness center had a good selection of equipment, so I could still keep up with my exercises. I also find walking easier (for exercise) on the Waterfront instead of the jogging track on the sun deck.

 

The other quiet place to relax is in the indoor observation lounge. We liked hanging out in the evening and listening to the piano player (Valentyna). We also liked The District Brew House piano player (Zoe). I am not a beer drinker, but they offer Angry Orchard and Strongbow Ciders. We sometimes caught the band in the Atrium (Royal Flush) but did not care for them. Plus, it is hard to get a seat in the Atrium; they really need to double their seating capacity, especially for the game shows (Newlywed Game, Cutest Couple, Battle of the Sexes, etc.). I did participate in BAMboozle: The Superhero Escape Room, which was fun because I have never done an escape room before.

 

We ate most of our dinners at The Manhattan. We did eat once at Savor and found the service so-so, but we had excellent service everywhere else. Food in the dining rooms was good, but I felt the Garden Cafe was poor except for breakfast. We preferred The Local for lunch, and my wife often went there for breakfast. We had one dinner at Onda by Scarpetta, which was on par with the main dining room. After eating there on the Bliss, Teppanyaki is a must for us, and the Encore did not disappoint.              

 

We did catch The Beatles Invasion in the main theater (which has the most uncomfortable seats). They were on par with other Beatles tribute bands we've heard and chose not to catch the other shows at The Cavern. The comedians (Gary Caouette & Jim McDonald) were your typical enjoyable stand-up routines. We did not like Antonina & David-The Mentalists. But, we thought The Choir of Men was the best show we've seen on an NCL ship. Get there at least 15 minutes before the show to get free beer when "The Jungle" opens.

 

I never thought I would say this, but I was disappointed in the shopping on the Encore. Ninety percent of Tradewinds was devoted to watches and jewelry. The selection of t-shirts, hats, and souvenirs was poor and displayed a generic NCL brand. Very few items were unique to the Encore, which makes it hard to continue my collection of ship-specific memorabilia. This was also the first cruise my wife did not buy any photos. We also noticed that there were fewer photographers on board, and they were not pushy about taking pictures. Most passengers take selfies or pictures with their phones, and we did the same, and the pictures are just as good.

 

We did get to anchor and go ashore in Great Stirrup Cay. I did not have trouble transferring to the tender with my cane, but I did find walking on the beach difficult. We did the standard island tours through the ship in St. Thomas and Tortola. We use the points from our NCL Mastercard to pay for our incidentals, which is why we booked through the ship, and with a buy-one-get-one deal, we paid close to what we would buy direct at the port. St. Thomas and Tortola use open-air buses to get around. St. Thomas's buses could accommodate my walker, but it was tied to the back of the bus. Also, my wife is a plus-size person with a bad knee and had difficulty getting in and out of the buses in St. Thomas and Tortola. In Tortola, I would need to book a special tour that accommodated a wheelchair, so I just went with my cane, and it worked out fine since it did include a lot of walking or standing. Our St. Thomas tour included three stops where we could get out, take pictures, shop, and use the bathrooms. We got a Banana Daiquiri at Cielo Vista Bar at Beacon Point, and I highly recommend it. The line at St. Thomas Mountaintop Bar was so long that some in our party almost missed the bus back to the ship. Our Tortola tour started at 6:15 am; I read in previous reviews some people had trouble getting breakfast before their tours, but we found the buffet had unofficially opened early to accommodate early tours. Our Discover Tortola tour was to include stops at a rum factory and the Shell Museum, both of which were not open at that time. Instead, we spent 30 minutes at the beach. NCL refunded the tour price difference, but I wish they were more upfront with that initially. St. Thomas has more gift shops at the pier than Tortola, of which only two shops had souvenirs like t-****, hats, etc. We did not stop at Puerto Plata because of the high winds. This was greatly disappointing because that is why we booked this cruise because we'd never been there.

 

Overall, we enjoyed our time on the Encore. While my favorite ship is still the Pearl, The Breakaway and Encore are nice, and we look forward to sailing the Encore when we cruise in Alaska next year.

[vacation44]

Thank you for taking the time to post your thoughts and experience on your Encore  cruise.  

[nutocruzing]

Thanks for sharing! I am about to sail on a four night repositioning cruise from LA to Vancouver. I have seen a couple of reviews complain about additional rocking or motion felt on Encore compared to other large NCL ships. Was this something you experienced? My husband has never been on a cruise and I'm hoping this won't turn him off of them because I've never had significant issues with feeling motion on ships before. 

[Sydneyberlin]

3 hours ago, nutocruzing said:

Thanks for sharing! I am about to sail on a four night repositioning cruise from LA to Vancouver. I have seen a couple of reviews complain about additional rocking or motion felt on Encore compared to other large NCL ships. Was this something you experienced? My husband has never been on a cruise and I'm hoping this won't turn him off of them because I've never had significant issues with feeling motion on ships before. 

We’ll be on the repo cruise from Miami just before you board her. From our experience, cruise ships are waaaay less bad in terms of seasickness than smaller vessels. I, too, used to be very afraid of this before first cruise as I remember well during childhood, when you used to take a ferry or hovercraft to England, it usually took me 5 minutes and I’d turn green. And that crossing the English Channel! But on any cruise ship- no such thing. Not even down here in the Tasman sea that can get quite rough at times- nothing.

 

Now everyone is different so who knows, maybe grab some anti seasickness tablets at CVS just before you go. I’ve heard of others that they do the trick and it’s a bit of a psychological thing to know that you got them in your bag, just in case. I’ve personally never needed them, not a single time so best of luck to your husband!

[nutocruzing]

2 hours ago, Sydneyberlin said:

We’ll be on the repo cruise from Miami just before you board her. From our experience, cruise ships are waaaay less bad in terms of seasickness than smaller vessels. I, too, used to be very afraid of this before first cruise as I remember well during childhood, when you used to take a ferry or hovercraft to England, it usually took me 5 minutes and I’d turn green. And that crossing the English Channel! But on any cruise ship- no such thing. Not even down here in the Tasman sea that can get quite rough at times- nothing.

 

Now everyone is different so who knows, maybe grab some anti seasickness tablets at CVS just before you go. I’ve heard of others that they do the trick and it’s a bit of a psychological thing to know that you got them in your bag, just in case. I’ve personally never needed them, not a single time so best of luck to your husband!

Thanks for this.

 

I should clarify that I haven't felt much motion on cruise ships before myself either. Despite my username I have been on quite a few cruises now, but even when the weather was bad the motion hasn't been enough to bother me. The couple of reviews I've seen that have suggested bad motion make it sound like Encore is abnormal for even cruise ships.

 

I was hoping a recent cruiser on Encore specifically would have thoughts on whether it was particularly bad. We will definitely bring gravol and the behind the ear patches just in case but I'm mostly afraid my husband will decide he hates cruising when it's my favourite way to vacation.

[debenson0723]

6 hours ago, nutocruzing said:

Thanks for sharing! I am about to sail on a four night repositioning cruise from LA to Vancouver. I have seen a couple of reviews complain about additional rocking or motion felt on Encore compared to other large NCL ships. Was this something you experienced? My husband has never been on a cruise and I'm hoping this won't turn him off of them because I've never had significant issues with feeling motion on ships before. 

I have been on the Encore on two different cruises and never gotten seasick. I have done the LA to Vancouver cruise on the NCL Bliss (sister to the Encore) and NCL Pearl (smaller ship). Going up the coast past Oregon on the Pearl, I got seasick for the first time...the Captain said the waters were always rough in that area and he was trying to get out of there as fast as he could. I took a Bonine and went back to bed for a few more hours. By the time I woke up, the worst was over. Same area on the Bliss and the Captain again stated the waters were rough but I didn't feel a thing that time. Everyone is different so hopefully your husband will be fine on the Encore. 

Enjoy your cruise!

[RN_Prof]

I am glad everyone enjoyed the review.

 

We had no problems on this cruise, but the seas were calm. I was sicker on the flight to and from Miami than on the cruise. I just took Bonnie and ibuprofen before we set sail and was fine.

[YVRteacher]

4 hours ago, Sydneyberlin said:

We’ll be on the repo cruise from Miami just before you board her. From our experience, cruise ships are waaaay less bad in terms of seasickness than smaller vessels. I, too, used to be very afraid of this before first cruise as I remember well during childhood, when you used to take a ferry or hovercraft to England, it usually took me 5 minutes and I’d turn green. And that crossing the English Channel! But on any cruise ship- no such thing. Not even down here in the Tasman sea that can get quite rough at times- nothing.

 

Now everyone is different so who knows, maybe grab some anti seasickness tablets at CVS just before you go. I’ve heard of others that they do the trick and it’s a bit of a psychological thing to know that you got them in your bag, just in case. I’ve personally never needed them, not a single time so best of luck to your husband!

NCL ships have free seasick tablets at the guest services desk.

[ChiefMateJRK]

16 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

NCL ships have free seasick tablets at the guest services desk.

That's good to know!  I have never felt any affects, but you never know.

[disneylover89]

I am glad you had a nice time.  We sailed on the Encore last summer to Alaska and thought she was a beautiful ship. We sale on the Escape this summer and Puerto Plata is on our itinerary, I have to say, I never heard the port being missed because of wind. Sorry you missed it.