**Live from the NCL Encore** July 21-28, 2024: Alaskan Cruise Itinerary

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

While doing a full ship tour last night after our time in Victoria I realized I needed to look at our photos we took on the ship (there weren't a ton but still enough to merit taking a look).

 

I stopped by the Photo Gallery up on Deck 8 to take a look.

 

I ended up purchasing the Digital Photo Pass for $75 that gave us digital copies of any photos taken at the photo spots setup around the ship (but not any taken in the ports or in the dining rooms).

 

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A Look at the Photo Gallery on Deck 8:

 

 

 

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

45 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Sounds like if you go in May you may want to do a tour in Seward because those calve that time. It says August-September for Hubbard which is consistent with what I saw. i was there at the very end of August.

 

Glaciers in Alaska can calve at different times of year depending on their location:

• Hubbard Glacier

  Located off the coast of Yakutat, this glacier is most likely to calve in August and September.
• Kenai Fjords Tidewater Glaciers

  These glaciers are most active in May and June, but calving can happen at any time during the late spring and early summer.
• Portage Glacier

  Located at Portage Lake, about an hour south of Anchorage, this glacier is best viewed at any time during the warmest months of June, July, and August

   

That's helpful, thank you!

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

The Alaskan itinerary on the Encore isn't ideal and last night's port call in Victoria was a good example of that as we were there from 8pm - Midnight. 

 

I heard a number of people complaining about their dinner plans being messed up and them not having a late night option in the buffet. Fortunately we are prematurely old and had dinner at 5:30pm (at Teppanyaki... more on that later).

 

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I honestly wasn't sure if we were even going to get off at this port and I still wasn't sure until nearly the moment we were walking off the ship. 

 

We were only off for about 90 minutes which suited us fine since we had to be up early to disembark. 

 

We did something we never do at this port - a cruise line excursion. 

 

However, NCL gives you $50 off of their excursions and the horse trolley was only $60/person so I figured for $10/each, I'd be willing to risk that even if we didn't end up doing anything at all. 

 

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The excursion was honestly pretty lame, but we at least got to see some of Victoria, were able to learn a bit about its history, and my daughter is huge into horseback riding so it was something she appreciated.

 

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Walking off the ship you can't see much besides the ship and a large warehouse:

 

 

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Walking out of the terminal, things are well marked to help you find your way: 

 

 

Note: If you decide to go into town on your own, I highly recommend paying a taxi $15 to get there vs taking the shuttle... You have such a short time at the port and the shuttles were very slow to get going. 

 

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Our chauffeur for the evening:

 

 

 

 

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The Empress Hotel:

 

 

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The Capital Building: 

 

 

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The World's Smallest Grocery Store: 

 

 

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A random deer on the island: 

 

 

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We were freezing but the locals were all walking around in shorts:

 

 

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We shared the port with the HAL Westerdam + Majestic Princess:

 

 

 

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My kids were doing jumping jacks to warm up as we got back to the ship (oh to have that youthful energy again):

 

 

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The Washy Washy guy is great, but I think the Hot Chocolate singers have them beat: 

 

 

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[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Teppanyaki was our final specialty dinner of the cruise. 

 

We managed to experience every specialty restaurant on the ship, with the exception of Ocean House.

 

The food at Teppanyaki wasn't anything to write home about but it was a fun experience as the chef did a great job keeping us entertained. 

 

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The Entrance on Deck 8:

 

 

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A Look at a Table and Grill: 

 

 

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The chef did a great job with both his singing and his food art:

 

 

 

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The food itself was average: 

 

 

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My wife's vegetable udon:

 

 

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The Green Tea Cake was not good:

 

 

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It was a birthday dinner for my wife so they brought her cake:

 

 

The birthday cake they gave her was huge: 

 

 

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The HAL Westerdam sailing by as we had dinner: 

 

Edited July 29 by FamilyAtSea.travel

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Alright, that's it for tonight... More tomorrow if the plane internet works!

[Ellis1138]

The "well, this is the only port we have available for a quick foreign port stop" thing with Victoria is such a shame. 

In 2002, we flew to Vancouver Island for our honeymoon and stayed a few days in Victoria and then a few out by Tofino. We had friends who lived there and joined us. Victoria is a really wonderful city. 

In 2003, we were on the brand new NCL Sun for the inner passage and basically all we could do at the Victoria stop was meet one of our friends and go to a short dinner with him.

 

Thanks for this live report. 

Did you manage to either get Freestyle Daily 7 or to notice what the Buffet's theme on the final night was? TIA

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

9 minutes ago, Ellis1138 said:

Did you manage to either get Freestyle Daily 7 or to notice what the Buffet's theme on the final night was? TIA

Thanks for the reminder! 

 

Here is the Freestyle Daily for Day 7 (the buffet was Mexican).

 

free-style-daily.pdf

[firstmickey]

Thank you for sharing this live report. Safe travels home!

[zqvol]

Really enjoyed this report. 

[Jaworskym]

Someday we'll do an itinerary that has a full day in Victoria. As it is with NCL, we treat that stop as a long sea day. The walk to the center of town is nice weather pending and takes about half an hour.  

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

I think I've covered all of the big stuff that would be of interest to people so I'm going to call it a wrap as we fly home to Virginia. 

 

I'll leave you with some parting thoughts: 

 

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- Look of the Ship: The exterior of the Encore is nothing special (it looks like a classic cruise ship) but I really don't care about that. The interior of the ship (what matters) was very nice. We really liked The Waterfront boardwalk around the perimeter of Deck 8 (and would have used it even more on a Caribbean sailing). The ship was very well-maintained in all areas...I can't remember coming across a single thing that wasn't operational, even in the arcade and thermal spa (two areas where we often see things out of order).

 

- Feel of the Ship: I can't ever remember being on a cruise ship this crowded before. We waited in line nearly an hour to ride the tube slide and closer to two hours for the go-karts. We often had to fight our way to the front to grab a drink at the bars. We rarely used elevators but when we did they were extremely slow and full of people coughing and sneezing. Trying to find a table in the buffet was an adventure every time.

 

- Food: We did every specialty restaurant onboard except Ocean House and overall I would say the food was just okay. We had very little food that scored a Yummy (our highest grade) and the service was often slow with very long waits. I never did find a creme brulee (the raspberry version in Cagney's doesn't count... Far too sweet).

 

- Stateroom: We stayed in a Club Balcony and I guess the bathroom was slightly larger than a standard balcony room. Next time around though we'd save the few hundred dollars and just get a standard balcony stateroom. 

 

- Kids Activities: Our kids both enjoyed the kids club and said there were a good variety of activities (crafts, games, video games, etc). I had read about a less than optimal virtual queue system used for the kids club when at capacity but fortunately they ditched this system and we never had to wait (beyond the line for processing). The go-karts were fun (but not worth the line) and laser tag was a huge hit (and no line).

 

- Embarkation/Debarkation: This process was extremely quick in both directions. Check-in took less than 30 minutes before we were seated in the lounge and check-out was even better as it was only 9 minutes from our stateroom to our bags in the terminal (though it took another 2 hours to get our last bag since a careless passenger didn't look at their bag and took one of ours that looked similar).

 

- Efficiency: While embarkation/debarkation was extremely efficient, nothing the seemed to be. The check-in/check-out process in the kids club was the slowest we've ever experienced and felt chaotic/unorganized. We waited in line numerous times for specialty restaurants despite having reservations and eating early (before 6pm). I already mentioned it, but it just felt like we spent the entire week waiting in various lines. 

 

- Pools: These were a big swing and a miss. The kids pool seemed to be closed more often than it was open. It was also a big disappointment that they don't have an indoor solarium pool (beyond the Haven) on a ship doing a Caribbean itinerary. I know there's limited space on a cruise ship and to have one thing it means you're sacrificing another, but I think that's an oversight on a ship intended to be family-friendly cruising Alaskan.

 

- Itinerary: If you only consider the locations, this was a great itinerary. But when you look at the times, it was less than ideal with getting less than 3 hours in both Ketchikan and Victoria (and a good bit of that going to transport time). We will likely do another Alaskan cruise in 2026 (already booked for the months we'd consider Alaska in 2025) but we'll likely do another line next time with a better itinerary (especially since we can check Glacier Bay off the list now).

 

- Shows: Choir of Man was the best show we've seen on a cruise ship, but it was disappointing that this was the only real show on a 7-day sailing. The Beatles are great but one night is enough, we don't need to see them perform multiple nights. The comedians weren't great but those are always hit/miss on cruise ships. They should consider replacing a couple nights of The Beatles with a magician and another musical show.

 

- Room Steward: Our steward was George and he was efficient but we never really got a chance to get to know him. He said he is assigned 24 rooms at a time... I'm not sure how this compares to other cruise lines but it seemed like he was less available than usual.

 

- Service (beyond the room): Crew members were friendly and although there were often waits, I attribute that more to staffing levels/occupancy than the staff themselves. We encountered a couple that were stressed and not friendly, but we all have these moments and I don't let things like that bother me too much. TSA in Seattle was much worse than anything we encountered on the ship!

 

- Casino: The casino on the Encore is very well done. We despise casinos that allow smoking but on the Encore they have two full-size casinos (one for smoking and one for non-smoking). The tables and slots were spread out enough to not feel crowded. My only criticism here is that the play seemed to award less points than what I typically see in casinos, but it seems like it's generally a known thing that the casinos on NCL are less generous with comps (likely since their casinos are run by a third party that has to share a cut of earnings with NCL).

 

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What We Liked:

 

- Embarkation/Debarkation

- Kids Club 

- Choir of Man

- The Waterfront

- Thermal Spa

- Arcade + Galaxy Pavilion

- Observation Lounge, especially in Glacier Bay (it's a shame they're getting rid of half of the OL to add more staterooms... That's only going to make the ship feel even more crowded)

- Mojito Bar (always crowded, but great drinks)

- Things are very well maintained

- Crew were generally very friendly

 

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What Could Be Better: 

 

- This was the most crowded I've ever felt on a ship. I've never waited over an hour in a line on any cruise ship and it was close to two hours for the go-karts (I felt bad for many who waited just as long and didn't even get to ride) + the tube slide was close to an hour (and was for people behind us). The Atrium on Deck 6 is a nice space but it was overwhelmingly crowded the entire week.

 

- Internet: It worked consistently but was extremely slow (5mb download/1mb upload)

 

- Lack of a solarium pool outside the Haven (poor choice for a ship sailing Alaska)

 

- Food: (already covered numerous times)... We didn't starve at all, it was just consistently on par with Applebee's (and I didn't find a regular creme brulee the entire week... I'm not bitter 😂)

 

- Spa Prices: I always book a couples massage for my wife and I on cruises and expect to spend $3-400 for this (+ tip). A couples massage on the Encore was $600. A couples massage isn't worth $3-400 but I'm willing to pay it for the experience. $600 is ludicrous and I wasn't going to pay that out of principal.

 

- Itinerary times... We won't consider NCL on our next Alaskan cruise even though they do GB unless they allow more time in Ketchikan and an earlier arrival time in Juneau (bonus if Victoria is longer as well but that one is less critical) 

 

- Irregular Hours: Many things were only open a handful of hours each day (slides, gelato, many of the bars, etc)

 

- Decor: The decor was nice but many of the spaces had the same general look and feel (i.e. Cagney's, Los Lobos, and Sugarcane Mojito Bar all looked more or less the same) 

 

- Main Theater Shows (beyond Choir of Man)

 

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I believe that about sums things up but if I remember anything else, I may add it later. 

 

To those of you who followed along and chimed in... Thank you! 

 

Our upcoming cruise schedule is in my signature below, with our next sailings being a 4-day on the Utopia of the Seas + 3-day on the Disney Wish B2B in early September! 

 

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The Ask 

 

If you've enjoyed following along with this Live thread or have gotten any value from it, I'll be publishing videos from the cruise on our YouTube channel in the next 2-3 weeks (finishing things up from our June sailing on the Celebrity Equinox at the moment).

 

I generally post one vlog/week (on Wednesday/Thursday) + one advice video (i.e. saving money on cruises, advice for families, etc) + things like room tours, spa tours, etc periodically throughout the week. 

 

https://YouTube.com/@FamilyAtSea

 

No pressure if that's not your thing, I have been posting on CC since our first cruise all the way back in 2012 (under a different name previously) and have no plans to leave!

 

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Smooth seas and happy sails my Cruise Critic friends!

 

 

Edited July 29 by FamilyAtSea.travel

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Something I just remembered for you family cruisers (but I can't edit anymore)...

 

They have the same exact kids menu at every restaurant on the ship, every night. 

 

Some variety would have been nice for them but they didn't starve!

[BirdTravels]

19 hours ago, Ellis1138 said:

I usually do NOT get lobster on a cruise ship, because I live in NJ and during the summer, we get live lobster for about $8 a pound on sale. I assume the lobster on the ship is frozen and not in a water tank. Unless someone who did the behind the scenes kitchen tour knows?

 

All seafood (including fish for sushi) has to be boarded frozen to kill parasites. This is a US Govt rule, not cruise line. The Alaskan salmon served on the Alaskan Night dinner is fresh caught and frozen prior to delivered to the ship in port. 

[carohs]

5 hours ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

Something I just remembered for you family cruisers (but I can't edit anymore)...

 

They have the same exact kids menu at every restaurant on the ship, every night. 

 

Some variety would have been nice for them but they didn't starve!

 

I encourage mine to order off the reg menu, app as entree or share with mom. It's never been a problem in the MDR, but I'd hesitate to pay for an extra specialty dining for them. 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

1 hour ago, carohs said:

 

I encourage mine to order off the reg menu, app as entree or share with mom. It's never been a problem in the MDR, but I'd hesitate to pay for an extra specialty dining for them. 

They ordered off the menu a couple times but we only dined in the MDR once so it just depended on which restaurant we were in. 

 

They enjoyed steak at Cagney's for sure!

[cruiseny4life]

Well, thank you for spending some of your cruise with us! It was fun to watch you all have a really great time - despite some missteps on NCL's side. No cruise is perfect, but y'all have the best cruiser's attitude. Just deal with it and have a good time, despite all you encounter. Except creme brulee. I hope you are able to get to a restaurant with the best and most creamy custardy creme brulee created!

 

I don't have kids (we're working on the foster>adopt route), so I do appreciate seeing how family's get along on cruise ships. Even us big kids enjoy the arcade! Glad everything was in working order - we always encounter a machine or two that isn't. 

 

I don't normally say this when I see content creators on here, but I'm looking forward to your videos! I have to say I appreciate how subtle you are when discussing this and making your posts (photos/text) the star of your live, rather than attempting to drive views. I've already given your channel a couple views. It'll get more, especially when you get these videos posted.

 

Enjoy your upcoming cruises!! And fair seas to you, as well.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

7 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Well, thank you for spending some of your cruise with us! It was fun to watch you all have a really great time - despite some missteps on NCL's side. No cruise is perfect, but y'all have the best cruiser's attitude. Just deal with it and have a good time, despite all you encounter. Except creme brulee. I hope you are able to get to a restaurant with the best and most creamy custardy creme brulee created!

 

I don't have kids (we're working on the foster>adopt route), so I do appreciate seeing how family's get along on cruise ships. Even us big kids enjoy the arcade! Glad everything was in working order - we always encounter a machine or two that isn't. 

 

I don't normally say this when I see content creators on here, but I'm looking forward to your videos! I have to say I appreciate how subtle you are when discussing this and making your posts (photos/text) the star of your live, rather than attempting to drive views. I've already given your channel a couple views. It'll get more, especially when you get these videos posted.

 

Enjoy your upcoming cruises!! And fair seas to you, as well.

I appreciate all the kind words, thank you! 

 

In previous Live threads I've done I've never even mentioned our channel but someone on CC came across it recently so I figured mentioning it once at the end of our cruise after sharing everything would hopefully be okay.

 

I also don't like being sold to or feeling like somebody has an ulterior motive, but that's truly not what it is. 

 

If I'm honest, what I hope this will ultimately be is a gift to my kids when my days are done and they randomly discover this while researching their dad and they'll be reminded about just how much I absolutely love them and they (and their mother/my wife) are my world.

 

Right now they don't even know I post on CC (they know about YouTube) but my Dad passed 20 years ago and when I randomly find things from him on the internet, it's like unlocking a treasure...I hope CC lasts long enough for these Live threads to be a treasure for them someday!

 

Thank you again for the kind words... It takes a lot of time to share things but it's worth it, not only for them, but to help others in their own planning!

Edited July 30 by FamilyAtSea.travel

[jrt.mom]

 

 

On 7/24/2024 at 11:27 AM, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

 

 

 

Thanks so much for the time to do these trip reports....I felt like was right there with you and didn't even get off my couch!

[Ixtoras]

Thanks for taking the time to share your family's experience!  We're booked for the Bliss in Alaska in a few weeks and reading your review really helped to get me thinking about it.

[Calicoskies1234]

On 7/28/2024 at 8:48 PM, kona_wahine said:

Another thing, we all feeling a bit crummy last few days and one has a positive covid test. Not enough “washy washy” 🤣

Covid is in the air. No amount of washy washy could stop it. Washy washy helps prevent lots of other ick tho. 3 in my group of 6 became ill Mon-Tues after return. We washed our hands so much the skin is all chapped. I carried alcohol hand wipes everywhere and used the whole pack. That many ppl confined, sharing air … it’s bound to happen. I could hv gotten sick anywhere I vacationed. 

Edited July 31 by Calicoskies1234

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

4 minutes ago, Calicoskies1234 said:

Covid is in the air. No amount of washy washy could stop it. Washy washy helps prevent lots of other ick tho. 

Fortunately I think my family managed to avoid it! 

 

**knock on wood**

 

We rarely use the elevators and I really think that makes a big difference not being trapped in an enclosed area with a bunch of people. 

[luvcruzing]

Thank you for the Live review - very well done.  I’ll be looking for your CC name when scanning the boards for Live reviews knowing it will be a good one.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Just now, luvcruzing said:

Thank you for the Live review - very well done.  I’ll be looking for your CC name when scanning the boards for Live reviews knowing it will be a good one.

I appreciate that, thank you! 

 

The next ones will be two short side-by-side cruises: 

 

- Sept 9-13: Utopia of the Seas 

- Sept 13-16: Disney Wish

 

Looking forward to seeing the two close by to see which is the better family cruise!

[KittyCruz]

@FamilyAtSea.travel

 

Thanks for the review, highlights, lowlights, tips and tricks!

 

Glad you all made it home safely 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

3 minutes ago, KittyCruz said:

@FamilyAtSea.travel

 

Thanks for the review, highlights, lowlights, tips and tricks!

 

Glad you all made it home safely 

Thank you!!

 

I'm glad we got to enjoy the Encore before the changes they announced today!