TheycallmeDrew

I have been on both and had a good time on both. Differences that jump out to me: Encore: Less free deck space, more pay activities(go karts, VR, Laser tag), nice observation deck if you want a quiet place inside, Q bbq restaurant(which I enjoyed and others do not). Escape: more free deck space, free ropes course, an adult only area on deck(spice H20), bigger Thermal Spa(I think), Moderno restaurant(which I don't enjoy but others do) For a Caribbean given the 2 I would pick Escape, for an Alaska I would choose Encore for observation lounge. If you have a port heavy itinerary where you are never on ship it would be a wash.

In Grand Cayman I always enjoy going to the turtle farm. You feed the turtles, hold the babies and snorkel in the lagoon.

I have only done the Vibe once and it was on the Encore. I chose to try it on the Encore because Encore does not have a Spice H2O adult area and has less free deck space because of Go carts and laser tag. I am the type of person who likes to sit for like 30 mins take a loop around deck, grab something to eat and come back to sit again. On Encore to do that I would have had to get up early and be a chair hog something I hate. My impressions of Vibe were this. 1) plenty of seating. I never had trouble finding a seat. 2) great service. Bar staff were great but then again I have always found the bar staff fantastic everywhere 3) hot tubs. There are 2 hot tubs. 1 of the hot tubs was full all week though the group that was there all day did seem friendly. I just didn't want to crowd in there 4) on my walk abouts on deck I could not see a free seat if I had wanted one and the hot tubs around pool were overflowing On other ships I have been able to find seating and when not travelling alone I would leave my wife and her book knowing I could return to my seat. Travelling alone on a ship with limited free deck space I did enjoy the Vibe. If you enjoy the spa like my wife does I would not get Vibe and vice versa as you then worry about getting your money's worth trying to split your time between both. I would choose one or the other. The one thing I did not like is it looks like they took away free deck space on Encore to increase the pay for space of a bigger Vibe on that ship. Kinda irks me.

Must be what happens when a category is full. I get that when I try to book a BF balcony on deck 9 but there are 15 BC balconies available on deck 9. Unless BF is a code for guaranteed balcony with free at sea perks.

This is news to me. I have never not been able to select my room when booking a non-sail away category but I never use the NCL site. On all the other web sites you are presented the available decks and select a specific room from those available. At least that has been my experience. Maybe others have had a different experience.

When booking a guaranteed cabin is a category of cabin type (in your case balcony) but their a different type of balconies too. Each category has a different cost which can reflect things like where it is, how big the balcony is, access to the spa ect. I usually book on a site like cruise.com. On there you select balcony and it will show you all the different types of balconies and what they cost. After picking a type it then lets you select a specific room. Guaranteed balcony is a type. It is the cheapest balcony but the drawback is you do not get to pick a specific room and you don’t get the free at sea perks usually.

I am not sure I 100% understand your question but if you are asking when a guaranteed cabin category is assigned it can be right up until day of the cruise. At that point you will assigned a specific balcony.

Is it only available to prebook on certain ship or after a certain date? Not in my entertainment section for Epic but my cruise is not until February.

In regards to your VIBE comment, how are you pre purchasing passes? I have only bought them once but I have always been told you have to buy on board and they are not listed for purchase in my NCL page.

Encore has an escape room in virtual reality pavilion. Did it march and had to make reservations. I don’t remember the cost but $15 sounds about right. There were 4 of us who are escape room fanatics and we had a lot of fun. We missed beating the record by like 3 minutes. There is a vr intro but then it is a typical escape room.