Norwegian Encore – The Great Cruise Comeback Live

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, Shellbelle28 said:

Because until this year, that was part of what made cruising Alaska ports so charming. You simply stepped off the ship and walked into the town. 

This has not been the case in Juneau and is not the case in Icy Strait and Ketchikan. These things have been discussed for a couple of years (not a surprise). but their implementation was delayed due to the pandemic. 
 

I kinda look at it like Cozumel (where we docked last month). NCL uses Puta Longosta right in town. Royal and Carnival use the International Terminal where guests have to pay their way to get to “civilization” via shuttle or taxi. 

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, TardisDance said:

Thanks Bird for the info on the Ketchikan shuttle.  I am going on a private tour in September and a left them a voicemail about bumping up the time slightly.  I scheduled it at 9:45 so I'm probably fine, but I'd rather not have the hassle especially if things are running behind.

Your tour operator should know by now that you will be docking at Ward Cove. If your instructions are to “meet on pier”, there really isn’t a pier to meet on. 

[gknep]

The Victoria stop was always one where you had to pay for a shuttle to take you into town. I expect that the new Ketchikan port will only be a problem for those of us who have cruised Alaska before with NCL. In January of 2020 I did a Mexican Riviera cruise. One port was tendered, and for the other two passengers without excursions had to find their own way into town. It wasn't that big of a deal. 

[AK Dreaming]

14 hours ago, joeflow80 said:

Love the photos, along with the rest of the thread. Did you do the small boat excursion into the Arm? It appears you were able to get quite a bit further than the big boat somehow. Can you confirm? We have this excursion booked next week, and my GF is still a little skeptical of the benefits of this trip.

I've done the small boat excursion.  It is one of my favorite excursions.  You get amazing view you can never get on the ship.  Highly recommend.

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, udivegirl said:

 

 

Is there a walkable path/trail at least at Icy Strait to Wilderness Landing?  I know for a fact my mom will not get on that tram.  She's deathly afraid of anything elevated.

 

So discouraged by the docking situations and distance to towns.  

So, there is a walking “trail” between the Wilderness Landing and the Adventure Landing (the old cruise dock). The trail is not paved and it is a bit hilly. On the day we were there, it was raining the the trail was a bit muddy and slippery on spots. 

 

[aubreyc1988]

@BirdTravels Any face up Pai Gow?

[AK Dreaming]

Thank you so much for this review.  I'm going to miss this next week!.  One question.  Can you take a taxi back to the ship?

[Shellbelle28]

15 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

This has not been the case in Juneau and is not the case in Icy Strait and Ketchikan. These things have been discussed for a couple of years (not a surprise). but their implementation was delayed due to the pandemic. 

It's been a few years since we did Alaska. Our first time, we had a stop in Haines, where there was literally nothing but the pier and a tiny village. 

Hawaii has lots of stops where the port is distant, but I think Hilo Hattie's must pay for the buses, LOL.

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, tooncestdc said:

So, I believe that the running track is a lie. It claims to be 0.2k or 0.125 miles, which makes for easy math of 8 laps / mile or 5 laps / km. But judging from my Fitbit and normal running pace, I expect it is about 0.16 miles and about a little over 6 laps per mile.

[BirdTravels]

7 minutes ago, AK Dreaming said:

Thank you so much for this review.  I'm going to miss this next week!.  One question.  Can you take a taxi back to the ship?

I don’t believe there are any taxis in Ketchikan. Or Skagway. Or Hoonah. 

[bkrickles1]

Encore is a great ship! My group loved it when we sailed January, 2020.

There was so much great live musical entertainment that you could just go venue to venue to see the diverse mix.

I've been glancing at your dailies Bird and there seems to be less of it listed.

I know they cut Kinky Boots, hopefully just temporarily, but I was wondering if they've given any indication when they might be getting it all together and having everything full blast.

A couple of things that I saw missing was 1. Q had live country music every night, starting during dining hours and continuing into the night after. 2. District Brewhouse had someone every night playing too.

These are just a couple I didn't see listed. There was live music almost every night in the atrium too.

I'm sailing Joy January 2022 and I'm hoping that they'll keep adding stuff so that we get the full scope of entertainment.

Bird, I didn't read everything you posted so I may have missed a couple of things.

I'm just trying to gauge the rollout.

Thanks in advance

 

[zerooveride]

@BirdTravels Could you please ask the Barista in Starbucks if they have Raspberry syrup for drinks. Around here it has been out of stock for a while and I love having it in my Passion Tea Lemonade. It would be a real bummer if they didn't have it!

 

Thanks again for all of this and answer all of our questions. I hope we didn't disturb your vacation too much. Enjoy your last Sea Day!

[BirdTravels]

22 minutes ago, gknep said:

The Victoria stop was always one where you had to pay for a shuttle to take you into town. I expect that the new Ketchikan port will only be a problem for those of us who have cruised Alaska before with NCL. In January of 2020 I did a Mexican Riviera cruise. One port was tendered, and for the other two passengers without excursions had to find their own way into town. It wasn't that big of a deal. 

The Bird totally agrees. Next season, no one will know the difference. It will be the new norm. For those “fire for effect” people who say “I will never cruise NCL again because of a shuttle ride”, seriously??? But if that is truly the case, you best hit the cancel button now because it won’t change. 
 

I am investing a lot of time to give the Cruise Critic family a first look at NCL’s return to cruising, live. I am trying to give you a balanced description of the good and bad through a presentation of the facts and let everyone make their own judgement. (yeah,,; my personal bias seeps into the commentary at times). 
 

I can tell you that the Alaskans in Hoonah and Ketchikan are extremely proud of the new dock facilities and what it brings to their community long term. And NCL is investing millions of dollars in these communities. And that includes places like Seattle where NCL invested $50M to help the port refurbish Pier 66. 

[BirdTravels]

9 minutes ago, bkrickles1 said:

Encore is a great ship! My group loved it when we sailed January, 2020.

There was so much great live musical entertainment that you could just go venue to venue to see the diverse mix.

I've been glancing at your dailies Bird and there seems to be less of it listed.

I know they cut Kinky Boots, hopefully just temporarily, but I was wondering if they've given any indication when they might be getting it all together and having everything full blast.

A couple of things that I saw missing was 1. Q had live country music every night, starting during dining hours and continuing into the night after. 2. District Brewhouse had someone every night playing too.

These are just a couple I didn't see listed. There was live music almost every night in the atrium too.

I'm sailing Joy January 2022 and I'm hoping that they'll keep adding stuff so that we get the full scope of entertainment.

Bird, I didn't read everything you posted so I may have missed a couple of things.

I'm just trying to gauge the rollout.

Thanks in advance

 

I think that it’s a juggling act for the cruise line right now. We are sailing with 2608 passengers this week. The Encore’s double occupancy capacity is 3998 and max capacity is 4903. These Alaskan cruises normally sail in the 4500 passenger range. 
 

So, you don’t want to have a full entertainment crew onboard if you are running at 60% normal. And since it is a 3-4 week testing, quarantine and isolation process to get someone onboard, there are entertainers that won’t sit in a hotel and crew cabin, isolated for that long. (The days of having entertainers fly in, do a couple of shows and fly home weekly are over, for now). 

[fastpitchdad]

4 hours ago, oteixeira said:

In Europe most ports are a drive or a train from the city they claim you are docking in (Rome is a great example).  Why should the cruise lines pay here when they never had to in Europe?  Seems like an odd demand you are making.

 

Because NCL chose this dock (probably because it was somehow cheaper).

[ChiefMateJRK]

31 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

The Bird totally agrees. Next season, no one will know the difference. It will be the new norm. For those “fire for effect” people who say “I will never cruise NCL again because of a shuttle ride”, seriously??? But if that is truly the case, you best hit the cancel button now because it won’t change. 

Yep.  I'm looking forward to the free Gondola ride through the trees, and I hate shopping so have zero reason to want to visit the shops in town.  I'll either stay on the ship and enjoy looking at the scenery and not an extended dock area or take a shorex that picks me up at the ship.  Those same posters claiming they'll "never cruise NCL again" are probably posting the same about the other lines in those sub-forums.  Some folks just aren't happy unless they're complaining about mean old cruise line "xyz."

[pbenjamin]

12 hours ago, Sitting here said:

Awesome job Bird!! Loving this thread. Juneau questions.  We have a NCL excursion going to Mendenhall Glacier (3 1/2 hrs).  Then we are hoping to visit the state capitol.  It sounds like the excursion will pick us up at the AJ dock? But then we will have to ride the bus all the way back to the AJ dock instead of getting dropped off anywhere closer to downtown?  Then either walk the 1.6 mi one way to the capitol from AJ or take a shuttle (free or pay??) the mile to the visitor center near main cruise terminals and then walk the remaining .6 mi to capitol?  And reverse it back to the ship. Concerned all of the extra back and forth may take too much time and make this not possible.

 

FWIW in 2019 we were in Juneau with the Jewel.  We did an NCL sponsored helicopter/dogsled excursion.  On the bus back from the heliport we went through downtown and the driver stopped to let people off who chose to do so.  There was some mention in a previous post about that not being allowed this time, Ketchikan maybe?, but in our experience it worked.

[Karaboudjan]

32 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

The Bird totally agrees. Next season, no one will know the difference. It will be the new norm. For those “fire for effect” people who say “I will never cruise NCL again because of a shuttle ride”, seriously??? But if that is truly the case, you best hit the cancel button now because it won’t change. 
 

I am investing a lot of time to give the Cruise Critic family a first look at NCL’s return to cruising, live. I am trying to give you a balanced description of the good and bad through a presentation of the facts and let everyone make their own judgement. (yeah,,; my personal bias seeps into the commentary at times). 
 

I can tell you that the Alaskans in Hoonah and Ketchikan are extremely proud of the new dock facilities and what it brings to their community long term. And NCL is investing millions of dollars in these communities. And that includes places like Seattle where NCL invested $50M to help the port refurbish Pier 66. 

Are these new docks giving NCL guaranteed access instead of having to vie with any other cruise line that wants to visit the port on a given day?

[Karaboudjan]

2 minutes ago, pbenjamin said:

 

FWIW in 2019 we were in Juneau with the Jewel.  We did an NCL sponsored helicopter/dogsled excursion.  On the bus back from the heliport we went through downtown and the driver stopped to let people off who chose to do so.  There was some mention in a previous post about that not being allowed this time, Ketchikan maybe?, but in our experience it worked.

If there is a need someone will fill it.  Maybe next year these towns will be full of Uber, or e-bike share or scooters!  😲

[SliderNc]

31 minutes ago, fastpitchdad said:

 

Because NCL chose this dock (probably because it was somehow cheaper).

While I don't disagree about the costs being a factor, there are a ton of other factors that go into choosing new docking areas for cruise ships.  Environmental, economic, etc. all come into play.  NCL probably offered up funding for it in addition to what the tourism/government of Alaska were willing to put in as well.

[alohayall]

16 minutes ago, Karaboudjan said:

Are these new docks giving NCL guaranteed access instead of having to vie with any other cruise line that wants to visit the port on a given day?

In a word, yes.

NCL has a 30-year preferential berthing contract at Ward Cove.  And it can handle two Breakaway Plus ships at the same time.

 

EPA Superfund money was utilized for clean up of this Pulp Mill site which closed in 1997.  
 

The Wilderness Landing site development gives a berth for docking (v tender port)  in ISP.  The gondola system project by Huna Totem Corp will eliminate the use of 72 buses to get us over to Adventure Landing , through Hoonah and up the mountain.  NCLH’s lines have preferential berthing rights here, also.
 

- source: NCL Press Release 11/2019 and Seatrade Cruise News 04/2021

 

I read a financial report that showed the loss of income to the City of Ketchikan and businesses there with the development of Ward Cove.  Part of that appeared to be from a per-head tax collected from ships docked at the Piers in downtown Ketchikan.  (as read by a financial layman).

[CroozFanatic]

2 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

So, there is a walking “trail” between the Wilderness Landing and the Adventure Landing (the old cruise dock). The trail is not paved and it is a bit hilly. On the day we were there, it was raining the the trail was a bit muddy and slippery on spots. 

 

 

This looks great. I'm doing this!

[BirdTravels]

In addition to the pop-up backdrops throughout the ship, you can arrange for a private photo shoot for those special occasions. 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 13, 2021 by BirdTravels

[fastpitchdad]

From reading the Dailies I am going to assume there is no Howling At The Moon on the Encore? 

[BirdTravels]

To provide more space on the pool sundeck, the Encore split the pool bar and put one on either side of the deck and move the hot tubs up to Deck 17. That leaves the whole pool deck wide open loungers. 

Edited August 13, 2021 by BirdTravels