Everything... Norwegian ENCORE! Launch Nov 2019

[gatorchinsky]

I think if the laser tag was indoors it would be better.  With it being outside opening times are limited because of sunlight and you have the weather to deal with as well.  When we were on Bliss we had 2 scheduled times to do the laser tag but both days it rained so they were cancelled.  We never got to do it because we couldn’t get other reservations.  Why take out a very popular portion of these mega ships (Spice) for a space that’s not even open majority of the day.

[shof515]

i am surprised Norwegian can not do what other cruise lines do and that is use inflatable walls and other objects to create the laser tag area . Royal does this when it converts the studio b ice rink for laser tag.

[bragstarr]

Interesting to note in the video posted that there is not a wonky-C on the lifeboat shown.  Wonder if they had them.  I’ll be laughing every time I see the name on the ship knowing what was.

 

I’m doing the 13 day Panama Canal repositioning in November 2020.  I looked at my itinerary and we have 5 sea days plus the day we actually go through the canal, where people I assume will be watching rather than sunbathing.  One of the five sea days is leaving out of NY and think it will be too cold for sunbathing.  That leaves four days where that pool deck space will be up for grabs.  I’m wondering how many days it’ll take for the revolt over available space to happen.

 

I’m thinking they may open Vibe at night to everyone for outside parties. In their money grabbing they’ve gone way overboard (pun intended) in having too many areas fee activities.  Virtual reality, laser tag, race track (which I will do) and Vibe.  It will be interesting to see the reaction, glad I’m not on one of the earlier cruises!

[PortFees45]

3 hours ago, gatorchinsky said:

I think if the laser tag was indoors it would be better.  With it being outside opening times are limited because of sunlight and you have the weather to deal with as well.  When we were on Bliss we had 2 scheduled times to do the laser tag but both days it rained so they were cancelled.  We never got to do it because we couldn’t get other reservations.  Why take out a very popular portion of these mega ships (Spice) for a space that’s not even open majority of the day.

So that NCL can squeeze more revenue out of the ship while reducing the quality of life on board for anyone not it he Haven.

 

After all, it's not like FDR could make 10 million a year instead of 20 million a year. He'd starve!

[SailBreakaway]

It would be too late to install the infrastructure for a bar, hot tubs, etc. back there sadly. It will be interesting to see how these design changes of Vibe, No Spice, and the 90s Laser Tag fares in reviews over the first year. Im thinking they got pulled into the RC and Carnival designs in offering more unique family and children/adolescent inspired paid activities. The revenue data from those lines may support it. 

 

The aft facing spa, with the wrap around windows in place of Garden Cafe looks really beautiful. 

[Noworkforme23]

On 8/16/2019 at 10:09 PM, rtkenmore said:

 

I'm one of the ones who really didn't care for the hull art when it was first revealed...  Seeing it out in the open like this though...  It looks way better now than it did in the sketches and all..

 

 I am still underwhelmed. The Bliss was so pretty and it was our first NCL ship. This hull art is just not much of a WOW factor for me. 

[Two Wheels Only]

4 hours ago, bragstarr said:

I’m thinking they may open Vibe at night to everyone for outside parties.

 

I don't think that guests staying in the Haven would be happy if NCL did that.

[packercruising]

1 hour ago, Noworkforme23 said:

 I am still underwhelmed. The Bliss was so pretty and it was our first NCL ship. This hull art is just not much of a WOW factor for me. 

More of a Yuck factor for me, but we don't have to spend much time looking at it. It is the innerds that should be interesting. We spent almost no time in Spice H20 on the Breakaway, so two decks of Vibe probably won't matter. What might matter is if there are 3 decks with wafting smoke from the casino.

[FreestyleNovice]

3 hours ago, SailBreakaway said:

It would be too late to install the infrastructure for a bar, hot tubs, etc. back there sadly.  

 

Nothing a $50 million dry dock can't fix (after two years of service..)! 

[CazV]

1 hour ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

I don't think that guests staying in the Haven would be happy if NCL did that.

There is mention in a Cruise Critic article of evening entertainment in Vibe...

 

I guess we'll need to wait and see.

 

Editing to add that I just tried to find the article and can't.

Edited August 19, 2019 by CazV

[PortFees45]

5 hours ago, FreestyleNovice said:

 

Nothing a $50 million dry dock can't fix (after two years of service..)! 

Oh what a Joy that would be!

[AeroXWD]

We were planning to go on the Encore December 1., and were looking forward to be on a brand new and beautiful ship. But the more I've read, the more skeptical I've become, and am now considering alternatives. 

 

The fact that such a small portion of the sundecks are open to everyone is a potential showstopper. Moreover, from what I've gathered you can't even know if you'll be able to purchase Vibe passes until you're on board and what they cost? This will me and my gf's first cruise, and if the only place we can find to sit outside is on our balcony, I won't be able to convince her to cruise again. The hull art, on the other hand, I think looks good - even though I don't generally like hull art.

[PortFees45]

4 hours ago, AeroXWD said:

We were planning to go on the Encore December 1., and were looking forward to be on a brand new and beautiful ship. But the more I've read, the more skeptical I've become, and am now considering alternatives. 

 

The fact that such a small portion of the sundecks are open to everyone is a potential showstopper. Moreover, from what I've gathered you can't even know if you'll be able to purchase Vibe passes until you're on board and what they cost? This will me and my gf's first cruise, and if the only place we can find to sit outside is on our balcony, I won't be able to convince her to cruise again. The hull art, on the other hand, I think looks good - even though I don't generally like hull art.

Keep in mind that because of the (shameful) elimination of the public sundeck space and SpiceH20, the masses are going to descend on the Waterfront. Instead of being the peaceful, usually sparsely populated quiet zone it's going to become an extension of the pool deck complete with chair hogging and people playing music on portable speakers.

 

The Encore is disgusting. 

Edited August 20, 2019 by PortFees45

[RedwingHockeyFan]

26 minutes ago, PortFees45 said:

Keep in mind that because of the (shameful) elimination of the public sundeck space and SpiceH20, the masses are going to descend on the Waterfront. Instead of being the peaceful, usually sparsely populated quiet zone it's going to become an extension of the pool deck complete with chair hogging and people playing music on portable speakers.

 

The Encore is disgusting. 

Without getting back into whether or not the public deck space they used to expand Vibe is actually fully used or not, I think if they were going to take up space on the decks with a race track and laser tag that they could have at least moved the Spice H20 into that public deck space instead of expanding vibe.

[TheDougOut]

It’s possible that Vibe will be released with a $29 or $49pp cover charge, and it’s so perfectly-designed to handle the masses that this will become a big non-issue.

 

Well, other than the fact that the highly sought-after aft views are never coming back.  

[RedwingHockeyFan]

12 minutes ago, TheDougOut said:

It’s possible that Vibe will be released with a $29 or $49pp cover charge, and it’s so perfectly-designed to handle the masses that this will become a big non-issue.

 

Well, other than the fact that the highly sought-after aft views are never coming back.  

That is another good point.  Vibe is constantly sold out in the first hours.  Expanding it would allow more people to buy passes and filter them away from the public pool deck area and not force more people to it.  However, losing Spice H2O does mean that now those guest have to spend their deck time elsewhere.

[TSUmom]

I for one can't wait to hear what the first few groups of cruisers have to say when they return.

[PortFees45]

14 minutes ago, TheDougOut said:

It’s possible that Vibe will be released with a $29 or $49pp cover charge, and it’s so perfectly-designed to handle the masses that this will become a big non-issue.

 

Well, other than the fact that the highly sought-after aft views are never coming back.  

Why would they lower the vibe price when the demand will be higher?

[coriemarie]

38 minutes ago, TheDougOut said:

It’s possible that Vibe will be released with a $29 or $49pp cover charge, and it’s so perfectly-designed to handle the masses that this will become a big non-issue.

 

Well, other than the fact that the highly sought-after aft views are never coming back.  

 

They should put a grotto in there or something, anything. A place that is meant for sunbathing, but no where to cool off doesn't make sense.

 

But, if the price is that low, I would definitely try to get one.

 

Can the first sailing happen already?!

[RedwingHockeyFan]

1 minute ago, PortFees45 said:

Why would they lower the vibe price when the demand will be higher?

I'm not sure we can say demand will be higher when it always sells out.  Demand might stay they same but the supply has increased.  I can see two possibilities: First, the price remains the same until they see whether it continues to sell out or not and then they adjust the price accordingly.  Second, they drop the price initially and wait to see if it sells out or not and then adjust the price accordingly.

[TheDougOut]

2 minutes ago, PortFees45 said:

Why would they lower the vibe price when the demand will be higher?

 

Inceased supply combined with a desire to not have their “encore” go down as a joke. 

[PortFees45]

I honestly think the public deck space on the Encore is so small that the risk of fights on the pool deck is something to seriously worry about. 

[UFMOM]

21 hours ago, packercruising said:

More of a Yuck factor for me, but we don't have to spend much time looking at it. It is the innerds that should be interesting. We spent almost no time in Spice H20 on the Breakaway, so two decks of Vibe probably won't matter. What might matter is if there are 3 decks with wafting smoke from the casino.

 

We were on the Bliss and the casino had a totally enclosed smoking room. There was just a strong stale cigarette smell right near the door to the room.  There was no smoking in the rest of the casino. It really made a difference. I think Encore is going to have the same set up.  Hope they install this in the casinos on the Away ships during their dry docks.

 

 

Mary Ann

[PortFees45]

7 minutes ago, UFMOM said:

 

We were on the Bliss and the casino had a totally enclosed smoking room. There was just a strong stale cigarette smell right near the door to the room.  There was no smoking in the rest of the casino. It really made a difference. I think Encore is going to have the same set up.  Hope they install this in the casinos on the Away ships during their dry docks.

 

 

Mary Ann

They didn't do it on the Getaway in April. They just expanded the Vibe. 

[packercruising]

8 minutes ago, UFMOM said:

 

We were on the Bliss and the casino had a totally enclosed smoking room. There was just a strong stale cigarette smell right near the door to the room.  There was no smoking in the rest of the casino. It really made a difference. I think Encore is going to have the same set up.  Hope they install this in the casinos on the Away ships during their dry docks.

 

 

Mary Ann

That would be great! Breakaway had open decks above and below the casino and it didn't seem like there were any restrictions on smoking in the casino.