Just Off Encore

[dshefter]

We just got off the Encore after a fabulous 7-day cruise. I will be posting a review in the next few days. But wanted to let people know to ignore all the negative reviews about the crew and ship. Is it a perfect vessel? No. But it has a lot to offer. Happy to answer questions, but I will post a detailed review of the things we did on the ship.

[david_sobe]

I will be impatiently waiting for your review 😜

[bluenose1]

Anxiously waiting your review. And we are anxiously waiting for our cruise on the Encore coast to coast Miami to LA Apr 2021, Spa mini suite. Just debating a Vibe pass or not.   Yeah...

[debenson0723]

Glad you had a good time.  I board in 4 weeks from today!

[clarkfam]

4 hours ago, dshefter said:

We just got off the Encore after a fabulous 7-day cruise. I will be posting a review in the next few days. But wanted to let people know to ignore all the negative reviews about the crew and ship. Is it a perfect vessel? No. But it has a lot to offer. Happy to answer questions, but I will post a detailed review of the things we did on the ship.

Looking forward to your review.  We sail in April on her.  

 

[mianmike]

5 hours ago, dshefter said:

We just got off the Encore after a fabulous 7-day cruise. I will be posting a review in the next few days. But wanted to let people know to ignore all the negative reviews about the crew and ship. Is it a perfect vessel? No. But it has a lot to offer. Happy to answer questions, but I will post a detailed review of the things we did on the ship.

 

I had been reading that the majority of the outside upper deck is relegated for pay to play venues.  Is that true? 

[CazV]

Glad you had a good time 🙂 I'll be looking forward to reading your review. 

 

6 weeks till I'm back on board... 😄 

[dshefter]

1 hour ago, mianmike said:

 

I had been reading that the majority of the outside upper deck is relegated for pay to play venues.  Is that true? 

One-third of the back of the ship is taken by Go Kart track and Laser Tag. One deck down, is American Diner, which was basically empty all week.

[ldgiff]

THANK YOU for advice to ignore some of the criticism! We don't sail until April and I have all ready lost sleep thinking about how early I need to get up to get "common" seats by the pool for 4 people (2 being my inlaws who we are introducing to NCL). Three current questions I have are: did you eat at Q? If so, how was it? I booked it thinking my Father in law would like it, but am considering changing it to French Bistro. Also, do the dancers still entertain at dinner in the Manhattan Room? If you have sailed NCL previously, how does The Local compare to O'Sheehans? I usually don't pay attention to all the negativity, but I have also never cruised on such a large vessel and the bad reviews are abundant. Thanks again!

[BirdTravels]

4 hours ago, mianmike said:

 

I had been reading that the majority of the outside upper deck is relegated for pay to play venues.  Is that true? 

Nope. 

[jlowe420]

10 hours ago, bluenose1 said:

Anxiously waiting your review. And we are anxiously waiting for our cruise on the Encore coast to coast Miami to LA Apr 2021, Spa mini suite. Just debating a Vibe pass or not.   Yeah...

 

you always have to go for the vibe pass... oh wait.. hmm no its not worth it.. save your money and use one of the other bars.

[mianmike]

6 hours ago, dshefter said:

One-third of the back of the ship is taken by Go Kart track and Laser Tag. One deck down, is American Diner, which was basically empty all week.

 

Thanks, people were also saying Vibe was expanded leaving very little non pay areas.  Is that what you saw?

[Love my butler]

15 hours ago, dshefter said:

We just got off the Encore after a fabulous 7-day cruise. I will be posting a review in the next few days. But wanted to let people know to ignore all the negative reviews about the crew and ship. Is it a perfect vessel? No. But it has a lot to offer. Happy to answer questions, but I will post a detailed review of the things we did on the ship.

 

So we should ignore all the negative reviews just because you said so?  Seriously?  Who are you again?

Edited January 27, 2020 by Love my butler

[dshefter]

On 1/27/2020 at 1:56 AM, Love my butler said:

 

So we should ignore all the negative reviews just because you said so?  Seriously?  Who are you again?

Just saying we didn't experience what so many others had. You can ***** and moan all you want.

[dshefter]

On 1/27/2020 at 12:32 AM, mianmike said:

 

Thanks, people were also saying Vibe was expanded leaving very little non pay areas.  Is that what you saw?

Vibe is expanded. Only thing missing was Spice H20. Rest of the pool area is the same size as most ships. Just one less pool. Vibe can handle 300 people and is two decks

[dshefter]

On 1/26/2020 at 8:04 PM, ldgiff said:

THANK YOU for advice to ignore some of the criticism! We don't sail until April and I have all ready lost sleep thinking about how early I need to get up to get "common" seats by the pool for 4 people (2 being my inlaws who we are introducing to NCL). Three current questions I have are: did you eat at Q? If so, how was it? I booked it thinking my Father in law would like it, but am considering changing it to French Bistro. Also, do the dancers still entertain at dinner in the Manhattan Room? If you have sailed NCL previously, how does The Local compare to O'Sheehans? I usually don't pay attention to all the negativity, but I have also never cruised on such a large vessel and the bad reviews are abundant. Thanks again!

We did not eat at Q. But it was always available, so that should tell you something. Heard it wasn't great. We didn't get to eat at LeBistro on this cruise because it was booked the entire week by a group. It is very good, at least it was on the Escape and Pearl. Would highly recommend Onda and Ocean Blue. Food Republic is excellent as well if you like sushi and Asian cuisine. Didn't see any dancers in Manhattan Room. Only ate there once. But it was our fastest service of the week. Enjoy your cruise. The Encore has a lot to offer

[mianmike]

58 minutes ago, dshefter said:

Vibe is expanded. Only thing missing was Spice H20. Rest of the pool area is the same size as most ships. Just one less pool. Vibe can handle 300 people and is two decks

 

Thanks for confirming.  The lack of free areas on the top deck will keep us from sailing the Encore unless we find a raging good deal.  The constant expansion pay to play areas is less than desirable. 

[BirdTravels]

On 1/26/2020 at 10:32 PM, mianmike said:

 

Thanks, people were also saying Vibe was expanded leaving very little non pay areas.  Is that what you saw?

Nope. 

[mianmike]

1 minute ago, BirdTravels said:

Nope. 

 dshefter just got off the ship and he reports just the opposite.  What was your experience on the ship and when did you sail?  Maybe they changed things since you sailed? 

[BirdTravels]

10 minutes ago, mianmike said:

 dshefter just got off the ship and he reports just the opposite.  What was your experience on the ship and when did you sail?  Maybe they changed things since you sailed? 

I think that the OP said the opposite. You just want to read into the OP’s statement to suit your purposes. And you are more than welcome to steer clear of the ship. 
 

The ship is brand new. We were on her first cruise out of Miami. Nothing has changed in a few months since our cruise. They don’t have the spice H20 area, but expanded the seating area around the pool on both decks for more loungers and seats. And they provide more varied types of seating.
 

No, I didn’t count the seats and compare it against our two Escape and one Getaway and one Joy cruise in the past year. But there were physical design changes on the Encore to accommodate the removal of the H20 and expansion of the Vibe. 

Edited January 29, 2020 by BirdTravels

[OceanBlueWaters]

20 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Nope. 

What did you see?

[mianmike]

11 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

I think that the OP said the opposite. You just want to read into the OP’s statement to suit your purposes. And you are more than welcome to steer clear of the ship. 
 

 

My purpose is to obtain factual firsthand information.  The OP stated the Vibe was expanded which subtracts square footage from the free areas, additionally the aft area is now laser tag and car racing which also subtracts from the free areas.  Cramming more seats into the pool area does not mitigate the loss of Spice.  It's not that difficult a concept to understand.  

[OceanBlueWaters]

35 minutes ago, mianmike said:

 

My purpose is to obtain factual firsthand information.  The OP stated the Vibe was expanded which subtracts square footage from the free areas, additionally the aft area is now laser tag and car racing which also subtracts from the free areas.  Cramming more seats into the pool area does not mitigate the loss of Spice.  It's not that difficult a concept to understand.  

LOL!

No Spice.

Upper Deck = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Plain and simple.

There are always Cheerleaders to promote/enhance, even though some of us disagree.  Post(s) will be del**** if we disagree.

Gosh...I'm kicked outta here.  Nice knowing y'all!  LOL!

🙂

[Love my butler]

8 hours ago, dshefter said:

Just saying we didn't experience what so many others had. You can ***** and moan all you want.

Gosh thanks.  Your permission to allow me to ***** and moan all I want means so much to me.......

[bkrickles1]

Some people are just so nasty.

I was on this sailing and Dave is right on with his observations.

First of all, the pool deck was no more crowded than any other cruise I've been on and we've been on a few.

I was on the Escape 18 months ago with Spice and the additional space outside of Vibe and the crowds were no different.

While I'm sure if measurements were calculated that there is less overall "free" space, it's probably not a huge difference as the area around the pools on Encore is larger than Escape and deck 17 also has more nooks and crannies, I believe.

Nobody spent much more time outside than my family did on sea days on this particular sailing and it was a very typical experience. Did I miss Spice? Sure I did, but there was enough seating outside (shady & sunny) for everyone on our sailing.

You can choose to believe Dave or not but I also had a very similarly positive experience and I didn't have Vibe or Haven.

No cruise is perfect but the 1/19 - 1/26 sailing of Encore was pretty darn good in almost every way.