Encore--February 11-18, 2024

[vacation44]

If anyone is interested, here are the Freestyle Dailies from our Encore last week.

 

Couple of thoughts on OUR experience:

 

1.   As usual, we had a great time and did enjoy ourselves.  This time around it was just my husband and myself (upper 50's) and we stayed in a club balcony suite which had an extended balcony.   

 

2.  This time around, the once-a-day cabin upkeep did not affect us.   Our cabin was cleaned every morning on the early side which would great for us.   Upon meeting our Cabin Steward, we requested four towels daily so we always had clean towels.   

 

3.   We did miss the absence of an additional Broadway style show other than the new game shows in the main theatre.   We have no interest in the game shows.  

 

4.  In general, you had to get to the comedy shows in the Social a good half an hour before show time to get a seat.   We miss the old way of making reservations.  One night we got there around 45 minutes early and had trouble finding two seats together.     This kept us from going back and seeing another show.

 

5.   Los Lobos--wow!    For the first time, we tried Los Lobos and both agreed it is now our favorite NCL restaurant (not counting The Haven).   We even went back the following night!   That night we had dinner reservations at Cagneys and we were placed at one of the tables outside the restaurant near the very loud bar.   We asked to be moved to another table inside the resaturant and were told it would be an hour and a half wait.   I nicely said that we did not make our reservations at 125 days out to be sitting outside the restaurant as an overflow.   The Manager did try to talk us into waiting the hour and a half or to come back another night.   We thanked her and walked ourselves over the Los Lobos, which is across from Cagneys, and got seated 15 minutes later.   Again, another delicious meal.     We were told that we were the fourth party that night to come back again without reservations.    It seems to be really catching on.    The only drawback on us walking out of Cagneys was I missed the seven-layer cake.

 

6.   For Embarkation, as Platinum, we boarded right after the paid upgrade to priority boarding which boarded after passengers needing assistance and Sapphire, Diamond and Ambassador.     While we still boarded on the very early side and got everything accomplished upon boarding that we needed to do, I did not think it was right that paid priority boarding went ahead of platinum boarding which we earned after spending many, many, many thousands of dollars to achieve.   But that is my opinion.

 

7.   While the Vibe on the Encore is not my favorite, for us, it was worth every penny (59,900 of them).   The service was, as usual, top notch.   Lounge chairs could always be found in both the sun and the shade.  

 

8.   We loved both the Boss Underwater Excursion in St. Thomas and Escape to Jost Van Dyke excursion in Tortola.   Both were the highlights of our trip.  We also did the Discover Puerto Plata tour which was unusual for us as we always are geared to water-based excursions.    My husband was happy as he was able to purchase rum and cigars while I was able to purchase chocolate.    Note there was a good amount of walking on this tour which did take a lot of people by surprise.    On Great Stirrup Cay, we rented a Villa at Silver Cove.   

 

9.  The buffet.   I have seen a lot of comments lately about the quality and amount of food choices going down lately at the buffet.    We agree.    This was our fifth cruise since the restart (and third within 11 months) and have noticed a big difference this past year.  

 

10.  CruiseNext Certificates--we purchased them and were able to apply them to our three cabins on our June 2025 Encore cruise which we booked in March 2023.   So far, so good that they have not been kicked back yet.    

 

We do still love the NCL product, but I think we both love it a little less now.    We are up again this June on the Joy with our young adult children, their significant others and extended family and are both still looking forward to it; however, I think we are going to cancel our February 2025 Viva cruise and go with our Plan B which we formulated while we were waiting for NCL to release the Viva Vibe passes.     

 

Any questions, please ask and I will try to answer.

Day 1.pdf Day 2.pdf Day 3.pdf Day 4.pdf Day 5.pdf Day 6.pdf Day 7.pdf

[bkrickles1]

8 minutes ago, vacation44 said:

If anyone is interested, here are the Freestyle Dailies from our Encore last week.

 

Couple of thoughts on OUR experience:

 

1.   As usual, we had a great time and did enjoy ourselves.  This time around it was just my husband and myself (upper 50's) and we stayed in a club balcony suite which had an extended balcony.   

 

2.  This time around, the once-a-day cabin upkeep did not affect us.   Our cabin was cleaned every morning on the early side which would great for us.   Upon meeting our Cabin Steward, we requested four towels daily so we always had clean towels.   

 

3.   We did miss the absence of an additional Broadway style show other than the new game shows in the main theatre.   We have no interest in the game shows.  

 

4.  In general, you had to get to the comedy shows in the Social a good half an hour before show time to get a seat.   We miss the old way of making reservations.  One night we got there around 45 minutes early and had trouble finding two seats together.     This kept us from going back and seeing another show.

 

5.   Los Lobos--wow!    For the first time, we tried Los Lobos and both agreed it is now our favorite NCL restaurant (not counting The Haven).   We even went back the following night!   That night we had dinner reservations at Cagneys and we were placed at one of the tables outside the restaurant near the very loud bar.   We asked to be moved to another table inside the resaturant and were told it would be an hour and a half wait.   I nicely said that we did not make our reservations at 125 days out to be sitting outside the restaurant as an overflow.   The Manager did try to talk us into waiting the hour and a half or to come back another night.   We thanked her and walked ourselves over the Los Lobos, which is across from Cagneys, and got seated 15 minutes later.   Again, another delicious meal.     We were told that we were the fourth party that night to come back again without reservations.    It seems to be really catching on.    The only drawback on us walking out of Cagneys was I missed the seven-layer cake.

 

6.   For Embarkation, as Platinum, we boarded right after the paid upgrade to priority boarding which boarded after passengers needing assistance and Sapphire, Diamond and Ambassador.     While we still boarded on the very early side and got everything accomplished upon boarding that we needed to do, I did not think it was right that paid priority boarding went ahead of platinum boarding which we earned after spending many, many, many thousands of dollars to achieve.   But that is my opinion.

 

7.   While the Vibe on the Encore is not my favorite, for us, it was worth every penny (59,900 of them).   The service was, as usual, top notch.   Lounge chairs could always be found in both the sun and the shade.  

 

8.   We loved both the Boss Underwater Excursion in St. Thomas and Escape to Jost Van Dyke excursion in Tortola.   Both were the highlights of our trip.  We also did the Discover Puerto Plata tour which was unusual for us as we always are geared to water-based excursions.    My husband was happy as he was able to purchase rum and cigars while I was able to purchase chocolate.    Note there was a good amount of walking on this tour which did take a lot of people by surprise.    On Great Stirrup Cay, we rented a Villa at Silver Cove.   

 

9.  The buffet.   I have seen a lot of comments lately about the quality and amount of food choices going down lately at the buffet.    We agree.    This was our fifth cruise since the restart (and third within 11 months) and have noticed a big difference this past year.  

 

10.  CruiseNext Certificates--we purchased them and were able to apply them to our three cabins on our June 2025 Encore cruise which we booked in March 2023.   So far, so good that they have not been kicked back yet.    

 

We do still love the NCL product, but I think we both love it a little less now.    We are up again this June on the Joy with our young adult children, their significant others and extended family and are both still looking forward to it; however, I think we are going to cancel our February 2025 Viva cruise and go with our Plan B which we formulated while we were waiting for NCL to release the Viva Vibe passes.     

 

Any questions, please ask and I will try to answer.

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We sailed Encore January, 2020 and we also loved Los Lobos.

Everything was sooooo good!

We did Escape to Jost Van Dyke on that sailing too and loved it so much we're doing it again when we sail Getaway in 56 (LT) days!!

As far as the buffet food going downhill, I'm not sure that I've felt it yet.

We've sailed Joy summer 2022 and summer 2023 and thought it was the same as always, pretty much. We've tried to not focus as much on eating on our last 4 or 5 cruises, so I may not be the best to judge that. I know there was plenty and I always found something that I liked.

So happy to hear you had a good time!

 

[WITraveler37]

Did the ship dock at Taino Bay or Amber Cove in Puerto Plata? I'm going to be on the same cruise next month and am trying to figure out which dock we will be at, I've been finding conflicting info on the different port schedules. Thanks!

[Acruzaholic]

On 2/23/2024 at 2:19 PM, vacation44 said:

If anyone is interested, here are the Freestyle Dailies from our Encore last week.

 

Couple of thoughts on OUR experience:

 

1.   As usual, we had a great time and did enjoy ourselves.  This time around it was just my husband and myself (upper 50's) and we stayed in a club balcony suite which had an extended balcony.   

 

2.  This time around, the once-a-day cabin upkeep did not affect us.   Our cabin was cleaned every morning on the early side which would great for us.   Upon meeting our Cabin Steward, we requested four towels daily so we always had clean towels.   

 

3.   We did miss the absence of an additional Broadway style show other than the new game shows in the main theatre.   We have no interest in the game shows.  

 

4.  In general, you had to get to the comedy shows in the Social a good half an hour before show time to get a seat.   We miss the old way of making reservations.  One night we got there around 45 minutes early and had trouble finding two seats together.     This kept us from going back and seeing another show.

 

5.   Los Lobos--wow!    For the first time, we tried Los Lobos and both agreed it is now our favorite NCL restaurant (not counting The Haven).   We even went back the following night!   That night we had dinner reservations at Cagneys and we were placed at one of the tables outside the restaurant near the very loud bar.   We asked to be moved to another table inside the resaturant and were told it would be an hour and a half wait.   I nicely said that we did not make our reservations at 125 days out to be sitting outside the restaurant as an overflow.   The Manager did try to talk us into waiting the hour and a half or to come back another night.   We thanked her and walked ourselves over the Los Lobos, which is across from Cagneys, and got seated 15 minutes later.   Again, another delicious meal.     We were told that we were the fourth party that night to come back again without reservations.    It seems to be really catching on.    The only drawback on us walking out of Cagneys was I missed the seven-layer cake.

 

6.   For Embarkation, as Platinum, we boarded right after the paid upgrade to priority boarding which boarded after passengers needing assistance and Sapphire, Diamond and Ambassador.     While we still boarded on the very early side and got everything accomplished upon boarding that we needed to do, I did not think it was right that paid priority boarding went ahead of platinum boarding which we earned after spending many, many, many thousands of dollars to achieve.   But that is my opinion.

 

7.   While the Vibe on the Encore is not my favorite, for us, it was worth every penny (59,900 of them).   The service was, as usual, top notch.   Lounge chairs could always be found in both the sun and the shade.  

 

8.   We loved both the Boss Underwater Excursion in St. Thomas and Escape to Jost Van Dyke excursion in Tortola.   Both were the highlights of our trip.  We also did the Discover Puerto Plata tour which was unusual for us as we always are geared to water-based excursions.    My husband was happy as he was able to purchase rum and cigars while I was able to purchase chocolate.    Note there was a good amount of walking on this tour which did take a lot of people by surprise.    On Great Stirrup Cay, we rented a Villa at Silver Cove.   

 

9.  The buffet.   I have seen a lot of comments lately about the quality and amount of food choices going down lately at the buffet.    We agree.    This was our fifth cruise since the restart (and third within 11 months) and have noticed a big difference this past year.  

 

10.  CruiseNext Certificates--we purchased them and were able to apply them to our three cabins on our June 2025 Encore cruise which we booked in March 2023.   So far, so good that they have not been kicked back yet.    

 

We do still love the NCL product, but I think we both love it a little less now.    We are up again this June on the Joy with our young adult children, their significant others and extended family and are both still looking forward to it; however, I think we are going to cancel our February 2025 Viva cruise and go with our Plan B which we formulated while we were waiting for NCL to release the Viva Vibe passes.     

 

Any questions, please ask and I will try to answer.

Day 1.pdf 3.02 MB · 36 downloads Day 2.pdf 3.21 MB · 25 downloads Day 3.pdf 2.93 MB · 25 downloads Day 4.pdf 2.98 MB · 19 downloads Day 5.pdf 2.94 MB · 17 downloads Day 6.pdf 3.02 MB · 20 downloads Day 7.pdf 2.9 MB · 16 downloads

 

[Acruzaholic]

I also am starting to have your same feelings after recently sailing Dec. 2023 & Jan. 2024 on the Viva. Recently cancelled @ 120 days our Encore Reservation for March 10-17., 2024. The same itinerary you just sailed on-We always secure Vibe passes or we won't cruise. So, may I ask what is Plan B?

[vacation44]

1 hour ago, Acruzaholic said:

I also am starting to have your same feelings after recently sailing Dec. 2023 & Jan. 2024 on the Viva. Recently cancelled @ 120 days our Encore Reservation for March 10-17., 2024. The same itinerary you just sailed on-We always secure Vibe passes or we won't cruise. So, may I ask what is Plan B?

Our Plan B:    We are huge fans of the British TV show Death in Paradise.   The show is filmed in Guadeloupe and the filming sights are all open to the public for the most part.    We plan to stay at the hotel where the crew stays and murders have happened (on the show).    Getting there, we are flying into Dominica for a few days, then taking a ferry over to Guadeloupe for a few more days.  We will be spending a lot of time relaxing on the beautiful beaches.

 

Did you replace your Encore cruise with anything else?      

[Acruzaholic]

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like a great plan-Considering doing some land based vacations. When we were on Viva Jan. 2024 we booked it for 1/12/2025 out of San Juan going to Southern Caribbean (ABC's) always wanted to do but never have-Would like to do an Aruba Land Trip but cruise is a lot less especially versus an all inclusive. Always enjoyed reading your posts. Already purchased and paid for Vibe Passes for myself and the Mrs.