NCL Encore Review - May 7-14, Seattle to Alaska

[Tgianco]

My wife & I celebrated our 25th Anniversary this past week & marked it with our 1st cruise to Alaska. Here's my review of the NCL Encore to Alaska as well as recommendations of things to do or changes I would make if I was going again.

Day 1: Embarkation in Seattle

Embarkation was actually a breeze. We were amongst the 1st onboard & went straight to the cruise staff to book our specialty dining (Ocean Blue) as well as a reservation for the show, Choir of Man. After that, went to our room, but no luggage yet, so we went up to the 16th floor to the Garden Cafe (the buffet restaurant)... can't remember what I had, but it was "ok." We went out on deck, grabbed a couple of chairs (nice, sunny day) & had a few drinks around the pool. We also met some nice passengers and the asst. cruise director, Bren, who is one of only about 10 Americans working on board. She is great & will be a great cruise director some day... so high energy. Went to one of the dining rooms that night, and it was pretty good (beef medallions). We went to Mandara Spa, since we had purchased spa passes (since this was forecast to be a cold weather cruise, made more sense to us to get the spa pass for the week as opposed to the Vibe Beach Club, which we would have done on a warm weather cruise).

Day 2: Sea Day

My wife was taking a while to get ready, so I went to one of the dining rooms for breakfast, as I love eggs benedict. They were pretty good. I went from there to the fitness center (so busy that 1st morning), grabbed a workout & then hit the spa. The spa is very relaxing. It has a hot tub, a therapy pool where you can hit just about every muscle, a salt room, steambath, sauna (dry heat), a "snow room," heated recliners, rain showers and offering total relaxation. It wasn't as warm, so not many by the pool. We spent a lot of this day in the observation lounge and managed to see quite a few whales. This was the night of our specialty dining, and we went to Ocean Blue, which was very good. If you go, the tuna avacado tower appetizer is amazing. I also liked the scallops served on pork bellies. Another passenger I had met had the same but didn't like the scallop appetizer. For my entree, I had the cioppino, which was very good, albeit pretty light.

Day 3: Juneau

We did the Mendenhall Glacier hike excursion, which, per my Strava, ended up at 5.1 miles. It was a great hike w/ a very good guide, amazing visuals (the moss in the Tongass Natl Forest is magical) & the views of the Glacier were awesome. The cruise calls it strenuous, but hiking is my thing so it wasn't strenuous to me. It was, though, an awesome excursion that I would recommend.

Day 4: Skagway

In Skagway, we did another hiking excursion (did say it was my "thing"), the Skagway Adventure Hike. It was a much shorter hike (2.2 miles-ish), but there was over 1,000 feet elevation gain. I would have called it strenuous, but we went pretty slow for some people not used to this much activity. Still, it was a lot of fun although not nearly as pretty as the Mendenhall hike. Using ropes to climb up & down the trail made it fun & a little challenging.

Not being satisfied w/ a 2.2 mile hike, I did another afternoon hike (Skagway was our longest day in port), taking the Lower Lakes Trail, which was a butt-kicker of a hike. It was pretty much straight up for about a mile... whew! The views were a nice payoff, though, so I'd actually recommend doing this hike & skipping paying for the excursion. The Lower Lakes hike was much nicer, is free and starts just past the area where the little shuttles drop you off past the rockfall zone. Skagway was really nice. I'd like to visit there again.

Day 5: Glacier Bay National Park

Well, we didn't get up early enough to snag a decent seat in the Observation Lounge, but, as the rangers said themselves, the best way to view the glaciers was by getting outside & seeing them without glass in the way. My wife & I took in the sites from the 17th floor outside area (by the outside hot tubs). The weather was a mixture of snow & rain at this point, but the glaciers were magical. The blue color they project is breathtaking, and the thought that the water held there is thousands of years old is mind-blowing. We did get into the Observation Lounge & found seats after we exited Glacier Bay. The rest of the day was cold & wet, so we relaxed, read, drank and listened to music in the observation lounge. Ryan, a guy who was on the British version of The Voice, apparently, was awesome on piano, on guitar & vocally.

Day 6: Ketchikan

We were in Ketchikan from 7:00am-12:30pm, so not much time. We didn't do an excursion, which, in hindsight, we regret. Ketchikan seems like a cool town, but, after seeing SOOOOO many jewelry shops, I came away calling it the Ensenada of Alaska (not a compliment). By day 6, my fellow passengers were wearing on me, especially those who treated cruise staff not much better than indentured servants. I will not make a general comment about east coast people here... I won't do it!

Day 7: Sea Day & Victoria, BC

We were only in Victoria from 8pm-11pm, so you couldn't really do anything. We did get off ship to hit a small bar at the pier, which was actually very cool w/ good drinks, great music and a great vibe. 

 

The good:

The ship is very nice (maybe too big?). The staff is amazing. Our stewards were all over things. Choir of Man was awesome (saw it twice!). The drinks, for the most part, were very good. The mud slides were like candy & went down WAY too easy. The food is alright in the buffet, but it was very good at the specialty dining. We really liked the Observation Lounge & listened to Ryan on piano, guitar & vocals several times. He was soooo good.

Juneau was very cool. Skagway was awesome. Ketchikan was disappointing but feel it would have been cool if we had done an excursion, which we might have done if we had been in port longer. Glacier Bay was very cool. Victoria is an amazing town (had been there before on another cruise), so would have been nice to be there longer, too. Actually, many of my fellow passengers were great. The treats in the observation lounge, especially their scones, were always very good.

The drink package was very good, and there really wasn't much reason to upgrade from the Free at Sea one.

 

The bad:

BUT, while many passengers were awesome, when 20%-25% of them are kind of jerky, on a ship that large, can really get to a guy by the end of a 7-day cruise. I'm NOT a patient person, so, if you're not patient, cruising might not be for you. Again, the food was alright. The eggs were always runny in the morning, although didn't find out until late that we could have ordered eggs done any way at the omelet station. The burgers & hot dogs were under heat lamps & didn't look too appetizing. The salad bar didn't offer too much selection. The soft serve was pretty tasteless (comparing it to memories from Carnival 10 years or so ago). Disembarkation was a hot, HOT mess. Comparing it to RV'ing (which we do often), it takes so much less time for us to set up & tear down that getting on & off ship. The crowds, especially in the Garden Cafe, were overwhelming.

 

All in all, we had a good time, even if this review doesn't come across that way. I was just DONE by day 6.

This was my 5th cruise overall (1st on NCL) but 1st since 2012. I expected a higher class passenger on NCL than Carnival (my previous 4 cruises), but it didn't seem any different. People pigged out (all you can eat & drink means you can, not that you should) & made a$$es of themselves the same as the only east coast cruise I experienced.

The realization hit me that cruising is just not my cup of tea, although it probably is the best way to see some areas, and I wish that the port stops were longer. 

Will I cruise again? Yes, some day, but I'll be more careful when booking. Oh, and make sure you push NCL as to when you would like flights. They put us on the earliest flight into Seattle (so tired, it cost us a day) and then put us (and a lot of others I spoke with) on the latest planes out on Sunday evening.

[ChiefMateJRK]

42 minutes ago, Tgianco said:

Ryan, a guy who was on the British version of The Voice, apparently, was awesome on piano, on guitar & vocally.

Ryan North?!  Wow.  Ryan was fantastic on the Joy last October.  I would book a cruise just to spend more time with Ryan! 😎  Did he play/sing "wish you were here?"  If not, what do you remember him playing?

[BunnyHutt]

My best friend and I are going on this same cruise in September so I appreciate the review. 
 

What kind of cabin did you have? We booked a balcony room so we would have our own designated space for Glacier Bay. Hoping that is sufficient!

 

Is there any kind of entertainment in the evening other than Choir of Man or the lounge acts? Not the first cruise for either of us, but first on NCL (several on Royal and Carnival) so we’re used to having some sort of evening show.

 

You mentioned a spa pass… Curious about pricing as that is something I am quite interested in and there’s no pricing on my app as of right now. 

How long did it take you to disembark in Seattle? We arranged/purchased our own flights as we live in 2 different cities and are both flying in day before but my flight is out at 1:40pm on Sunday. Hoping that is enough time!

 

Finally, happy anniversary!!

 

Edited May 16, 2023 by BunnyHutt

[ghenry1111]

Thank you for sharing. My wife and I will be on the same cruise in a month!
 

We’ll be on the lookout for music by Ryan and opportunities for mud slides (yay)

 

All while trying to have some tolerance for less-than-stellar behavior by passengers. (boo)

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, ghenry1111 said:

We’ll be on the lookout for music by Ryan

😎

[Tgianco]

2 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Ryan North?!  Wow.  Ryan was fantastic on the Joy last October.  I would book a cruise just to spend more time with Ryan! 😎  Did he play/sing "wish you were here?"  If not, what do you remember him playing?

He played Iris by Goo Goo Dolls, a great version of Hallelujah & many other very good songs. He did some Ed Sheerhan, Neil Diamond & so many other great songs. We went out of our way to find where he was playing... well, either the District or the Observation Lounge.

[Tgianco]

2 hours ago, BunnyHutt said:

My best friend and I are going on this same cruise in September so I appreciate the review. 
 

What kind of cabin did you have? We booked a balcony room so we would have our own designated space for Glacier Bay. Hoping that is sufficient!

We had an oceanview, which was actually nice, but that balcony will pay off for you on this itinerary.

 

Is there any kind of entertainment in the evening other than Choir of Man or the lounge acts? Not the first cruise for either of us, but first on NCL (several on Royal and Carnival) so we’re used to having some sort of evening show.

I heard the comedy acts were good. No one I spoke to saw the Beatles show, but reviews before I got on board were good. We didn't do any of the trivia, bingo or the mating game type activities.

 

You mentioned a spa pass… Curious about pricing as that is something I am quite interested in and there’s no pricing on my app as of right now. 

$299 each prior to boarding. It went up to like $315 each if you booked on board.

How long did it take you to disembark in Seattle? We arranged/purchased our own flights as we live in 2 different cities and are both flying in day before but my flight is out at 1:40pm on Sunday. Hoping that is enough time!

Make sure you get off as quickly as possible or request early disembark. The TSA line at SeaTac took forever.

 

Finally, happy anniversary!!

Thank you. You will enjoy it. Bring plenty of bug spray for Alaska, though. Those mosquitos are NO joke.

 

 

[Tgianco]

1 hour ago, ghenry1111 said:

Thank you for sharing. My wife and I will be on the same cruise in a month!
 

We’ll be on the lookout for music by Ryan and opportunities for mud slides (yay)

 

All while trying to have some tolerance for less-than-stellar behavior by passengers. (boo)

If you have more patience than me (not a tall order), you will probably have the time of your life.

[Tgianco]

1 hour ago, ghenry1111 said:

Thank you for sharing. My wife and I will be on the same cruise in a month!
 

We’ll be on the lookout for music by Ryan and opportunities for mud slides (yay)

 

All while trying to have some tolerance for less-than-stellar behavior by passengers. (boo)

Not sure how much longer he will be on Encore. I thought he mentioned something about a different shop (maybe the Viva) soon. Hope he's still there for your sailing.

[ChiefMateJRK]

11 minutes ago, Tgianco said:

a great version of Hallelujah

YES!!  I remember him doing that fantastic Leonard Cohen classic.  😀🐀😎

[May26]

17 hours ago, BunnyHutt said:

You mentioned a spa pass… Curious about pricing as that is something I am quite interested in and there’s no pricing on my app as of right now. 

I’m on the July 16th Encore Alaska sailing and I paid $339 for the thermal suite pass a couple of weeks ago! I was on Encore’s Panama Canal sailing in April and used the spa every day and it added so much to my cruise experience…so although it’s a little pricey, I do think it’s 100% worth it! 

[depplep]

On the Oct. 22 Encore sailing, thanks for the review. Did you do any other specialty dining other than Ocean Blue?

[BunnyHutt]

4 hours ago, May26 said:

I’m on the July 16th Encore Alaska sailing and I paid $339 for the thermal suite pass a couple of weeks ago! I was on Encore’s Panama Canal sailing in April and used the spa every day and it added so much to my cruise experience…so although it’s a little pricey, I do think it’s 100% worth it! 

Thank you for this! Yes, the plan would be to use every day. 😁

[Figg1437]

Can you share any pictures you got of the whales you saw while at sea from the cruise ship?  Or just tell me how well you can see them? Trying to decide to do a dedicated whale watch on a small boat or if we can see them ‘enough’ from the ship.  Thanks!! 

[Tgianco]

1 hour ago, Figg1437 said:

Can you share any pictures you got of the whales you saw while at sea from the cruise ship?  Or just tell me how well you can see them? Trying to decide to do a dedicated whale watch on a small boat or if we can see them ‘enough’ from the ship.  Thanks!! 

Didn't see many. We saw some on our first "Sea Day" on the way up from Seattle to Juneau. We actually saw the most in Skagway while we were in docked at port. There was a pod putting on a show. Sorry, no pics, though.

[Tgianco]

8 hours ago, depplep said:

On the Oct. 22 Encore sailing, thanks for the review. Did you do any other specialty dining other than Ocean Blue?

no, just Ocean Blue. I heard some rave reviews of Cagney's while on board, but many seemed a little disappointed in the specialty dining.

[sherrihall128]

On 5/15/2023 at 4:52 PM, Tgianco said:

My wife & I celebrated our 25th Anniversary this past week & marked it with our 1st cruise to Alaska. Here's my review of the NCL Encore to Alaska as well as recommendations of things to do or changes I would make if I was going again.

Day 1: Embarkation in Seattle

Embarkation was actually a breeze. We were amongst the 1st onboard & went straight to the cruise staff to book our specialty dining (Ocean Blue) as well as a reservation for the show, Choir of Man. After that, went to our room, but no luggage yet, so we went up to the 16th floor to the Garden Cafe (the buffet restaurant)... can't remember what I had, but it was "ok." We went out on deck, grabbed a couple of chairs (nice, sunny day) & had a few drinks around the pool. We also met some nice passengers and the asst. cruise director, Bren, who is one of only about 10 Americans working on board. She is great & will be a great cruise director some day... so high energy. Went to one of the dining rooms that night, and it was pretty good (beef medallions). We went to Mandara Spa, since we had purchased spa passes (since this was forecast to be a cold weather cruise, made more sense to us to get the spa pass for the week as opposed to the Vibe Beach Club, which we would have done on a warm weather cruise).

Day 2: Sea Day

My wife was taking a while to get ready, so I went to one of the dining rooms for breakfast, as I love eggs benedict. They were pretty good. I went from there to the fitness center (so busy that 1st morning), grabbed a workout & then hit the spa. The spa is very relaxing. It has a hot tub, a therapy pool where you can hit just about every muscle, a salt room, steambath, sauna (dry heat), a "snow room," heated recliners, rain showers and offering total relaxation. It wasn't as warm, so not many by the pool. We spent a lot of this day in the observation lounge and managed to see quite a few whales. This was the night of our specialty dining, and we went to Ocean Blue, which was very good. If you go, the tuna avacado tower appetizer is amazing. I also liked the scallops served on pork bellies. Another passenger I had met had the same but didn't like the scallop appetizer. For my entree, I had the cioppino, which was very good, albeit pretty light.

Day 3: Juneau

We did the Mendenhall Glacier hike excursion, which, per my Strava, ended up at 5.1 miles. It was a great hike w/ a very good guide, amazing visuals (the moss in the Tongass Natl Forest is magical) & the views of the Glacier were awesome. The cruise calls it strenuous, but hiking is my thing so it wasn't strenuous to me. It was, though, an awesome excursion that I would recommend.

Day 4: Skagway

In Skagway, we did another hiking excursion (did say it was my "thing"), the Skagway Adventure Hike. It was a much shorter hike (2.2 miles-ish), but there was over 1,000 feet elevation gain. I would have called it strenuous, but we went pretty slow for some people not used to this much activity. Still, it was a lot of fun although not nearly as pretty as the Mendenhall hike. Using ropes to climb up & down the trail made it fun & a little challenging.

Not being satisfied w/ a 2.2 mile hike, I did another afternoon hike (Skagway was our longest day in port), taking the Lower Lakes Trail, which was a butt-kicker of a hike. It was pretty much straight up for about a mile... whew! The views were a nice payoff, though, so I'd actually recommend doing this hike & skipping paying for the excursion. The Lower Lakes hike was much nicer, is free and starts just past the area where the little shuttles drop you off past the rockfall zone. Skagway was really nice. I'd like to visit there again.

Day 5: Glacier Bay National Park

Well, we didn't get up early enough to snag a decent seat in the Observation Lounge, but, as the rangers said themselves, the best way to view the glaciers was by getting outside & seeing them without glass in the way. My wife & I took in the sites from the 17th floor outside area (by the outside hot tubs). The weather was a mixture of snow & rain at this point, but the glaciers were magical. The blue color they project is breathtaking, and the thought that the water held there is thousands of years old is mind-blowing. We did get into the Observation Lounge & found seats after we exited Glacier Bay. The rest of the day was cold & wet, so we relaxed, read, drank and listened to music in the observation lounge. Ryan, a guy who was on the British version of The Voice, apparently, was awesome on piano, on guitar & vocally.

Day 6: Ketchikan

We were in Ketchikan from 7:00am-12:30pm, so not much time. We didn't do an excursion, which, in hindsight, we regret. Ketchikan seems like a cool town, but, after seeing SOOOOO many jewelry shops, I came away calling it the Ensenada of Alaska (not a compliment). By day 6, my fellow passengers were wearing on me, especially those who treated cruise staff not much better than indentured servants. I will not make a general comment about east coast people here... I won't do it!

Day 7: Sea Day & Victoria, BC

We were only in Victoria from 8pm-11pm, so you couldn't really do anything. We did get off ship to hit a small bar at the pier, which was actually very cool w/ good drinks, great music and a great vibe. 

 

The good:

The ship is very nice (maybe too big?). The staff is amazing. Our stewards were all over things. Choir of Man was awesome (saw it twice!). The drinks, for the most part, were very good. The mud slides were like candy & went down WAY too easy. The food is alright in the buffet, but it was very good at the specialty dining. We really liked the Observation Lounge & listened to Ryan on piano, guitar & vocals several times. He was soooo good.

Juneau was very cool. Skagway was awesome. Ketchikan was disappointing but feel it would have been cool if we had done an excursion, which we might have done if we had been in port longer. Glacier Bay was very cool. Victoria is an amazing town (had been there before on another cruise), so would have been nice to be there longer, too. Actually, many of my fellow passengers were great. The treats in the observation lounge, especially their scones, were always very good.

The drink package was very good, and there really wasn't much reason to upgrade from the Free at Sea one.

 

The bad:

BUT, while many passengers were awesome, when 20%-25% of them are kind of jerky, on a ship that large, can really get to a guy by the end of a 7-day cruise. I'm NOT a patient person, so, if you're not patient, cruising might not be for you. Again, the food was alright. The eggs were always runny in the morning, although didn't find out until late that we could have ordered eggs done any way at the omelet station. The burgers & hot dogs were under heat lamps & didn't look too appetizing. The salad bar didn't offer too much selection. The soft serve was pretty tasteless (comparing it to memories from Carnival 10 years or so ago). Disembarkation was a hot, HOT mess. Comparing it to RV'ing (which we do often), it takes so much less time for us to set up & tear down that getting on & off ship. The crowds, especially in the Garden Cafe, were overwhelming.

 

All in all, we had a good time, even if this review doesn't come across that way. I was just DONE by day 6.

This was my 5th cruise overall (1st on NCL) but 1st since 2012. I expected a higher class passenger on NCL than Carnival (my previous 4 cruises), but it didn't seem any different. People pigged out (all you can eat & drink means you can, not that you should) & made a$$es of themselves the same as the only east coast cruise I experienced.

The realization hit me that cruising is just not my cup of tea, although it probably is the best way to see some areas, and I wish that the port stops were longer. 

Will I cruise again? Yes, some day, but I'll be more careful when booking. Oh, and make sure you push NCL as to when you would like flights. They put us on the earliest flight into Seattle (so tired, it cost us a day) and then put us (and a lot of others I spoke with) on the latest planes out on Sunday evening.

 

Hey, someone from Folsom? That's my hometown!

 

I agree with you on some aspects--that sometimes people need to be kind, patient, and understanding when around large masses of people on a cruise ship. The whole cruise doesn't revolve around one person/family. 

[bbqbears]

Tgianco, thank you for the review.  We will be on the ship in two weeks.  Any comments about housekeeping since the line has cut back to once daily cleaning?  I have been on a lot of cruises, and this has never been an issue-in fact, I've often felt twice-daily cleaning was a bit much.  I always try to keep things picked up so the staff have a fighting chance.  But given I will be sharing a room with my two teenaged granddaughters this time, I wonder how it will be with housekeeping staff stretched  thin.  

[Tracyr]

When you docked in Juneau was it the farthest dock that requires a shuttle or were you in town and could walk of the ship to shops? I'm guessing in Ketchikan you were out at Ward Cove?  Thanks