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Live from NCL Encore Jan 9-16

limeyalchemist

By limeyalchemist,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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limeyalchemist

limeyalchemist

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12 hours ago, classy_cruiser said:

How was puerto plata? Keeping my fingers crossed you make it to GSC. Did you get a chance to try the thermal spa? 

We are not using the thermal spa.  Looking forward to getting to GSC.  Don’t want to jinx ourselves, but this will be visit 8 out of 8 if we make it tomorrow.  Rented an ocean villa which looks amazing.  Our only splurge on this trip other than the cruise itself.

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luckyinpa

luckyinpa

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53 minutes ago, limeyalchemist said:

We are not using the thermal spa.  Looking forward to getting to GSC.  Don’t want to jinx ourselves, but this will be visit 8 out of 8 if we make it tomorrow.  Rented an ocean villa which looks amazing.  Our only splurge on this trip other than the cruise itself.

 

thats like winning powerball! im' 1 for 2 and xmas 2019 they said future seas would be too rough so we didnt go. sunny and smooth it looked to me. sigh. captain said you may wonder why royal is at theirs well they have a dock and we dont. they realllly need to get a dock

 

that being said, the cabana situation there on coco cay is nuts. 1000 to 1500 and the floating ones dont have any indoors anything, no AC etc. NCL charges far less and gives you far more for the buck for the villas. when you can get there.  but if you just want the free stuff i did prefer coco to GSC. 

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limeyalchemist

limeyalchemist

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18 hours ago, Bakedzd81 said:

Limey! Please keep the updates coming... this is great. More pics please (can you also send snaps of the daily program printouts?)!

Also, are the "Beatles" playing the Cavern Club? 

Thanks! 

Will post freestyle dailies when I get back on decent internet. Scanned all of them as PDFs and will post Sunday. 

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ShineyThings

ShineyThings

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I’m on the Encore as a solo cruiser. It’s been amazing! My Symphony of the Seas cruise was cancelled for the 8th. I was already in Miami. So, the NCL people have some mind reading skills in knowing that it was cancelled and called me. Go figure. It’s been great, I heard from a crew member that there are 1700 crew and 1300 pax. He complimented the pax for just generally being very nice and considerate of the crew. Keep it up pax!!!! There is ample entertainment, and space to sit and relax. 

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JMT2568

JMT2568

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Thank you so much for all your posts a lot of good information.

 

How did you Ocean Villa at GSC?  We are thinking about possible getting a cabana.

 

Also, it seemed like they only have the seashell for sun coverage if you're on the beach, is that correct, or do they have umbrella too?

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Dirtdevil71

Dirtdevil71

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1 hour ago, limeyalchemist said:

Last night, the Norwegian Star pulled alongside the Encore at GSC. Later we found out that sick crew were being transferred to the Star where they are being isolated. Slight delay leaving GSC. 

46A7B6E0-6BDF-4EA7-9618-0A8C55C9F977.jpeg

A812D498-C7DA-42F9-A745-57EB7C033AF3.jpeg

Or returning new crew members that are complete with their 5 day quarantine, positive thoughts, 7 days till we board, can’t wait.  You’ve given us hope!! 

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FrankieCruise

FrankieCruise

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We just got off the Encore. It was a wonderful cruise. It felt like real luxury having no lines for elevators, finding seats anywhere we wanted, including shows, pool, etc. The only downside was the entertainment. We always enjoy the Broadway performances, which due to 4 performers in Kinky Boots covid positive was still canceled. We talked to one performer who was getting of the ship mid crew to train new performers I'm hopes of having them ready for this next week. The magician was not that good. The comedians were not our sense of humor...I'm sure some that they were funny? The Thermal Spa was fantastic..got a day pass on the first DR port day. We didn't know that port and had only 3 choices for excursions that we weren't interested in. We were so happy that we did the Thermal Spa that day! Had the place almost to ourselves. It ended up raining that day, which felt like a bonus for our choice. I had the best massage by Jelly... so well worth it! I highly recommend her. 

The day at Nassau we walked to Margaritaville, bought a day pass and used their pool, lazy river, beach, flow rider, paddle board for$59.  Maybe saw 10 people there at the most. Beautiful new resort. 

All and all we are so thrilled we decided not to cancel! We felt safer on the ship than walking through our local grocery store. NCL has done an outstanding job in testing their employees and we were told are the first to cancel than sale unsafe.

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FrankieCruise

FrankieCruise

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49 minutes ago, JMT2568 said:

Thank you so much for all your posts a lot of good information.

 

How did you Ocean Villa at GSC?  We are thinking about possible getting a cabana.

 

Also, it seemed like they only have the seashell for sun coverage if you're on the beach, is that correct, or do they have umbrella too?

We found plenty of chairs to pull into the shade. Since we burn easy that was important to us. So we didn't need to buy a cabana. 

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Heyref

Heyref

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Even though both ‘big shows’ were cancelled, the entertainment was really good. The Beatles were amazing- saw them 3 times. The best of Broadway, which featured performers from Kinky Boots, and the Franki Valli guy (from choir of men) wee very entertaining.  
 

comedians pretty good too. Really enjoyed Alexa the piano player / singer too

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limeyalchemist

limeyalchemist

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1 hour ago, JMT2568 said:

Thank you so much for all your posts a lot of good information.

 

How did you Ocean Villa at GSC?  We are thinking about possible getting a cabana.

 

Also, it seemed like they only have the seashell for sun coverage if you're on the beach, is that correct, or do they have umbrella too?

Yes. We absolutely loved the Silver Cove villa. We had an Ocean Villa which is close to the buffet and has a private beach area. Short walk to the lagoon also. 
 

Here’s photos:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jdsYoj5ZFi9lEAEiaP5QS-TzavQ4m8bJ
 

Snacks delivered, bar service and float mats. Espresso machine too. Beautiful bathrooms which make it nice to go back to the ship clean and not salty. 
 

We swam in both the lagoon and on our beach. 

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limeyalchemist

limeyalchemist

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4 hours ago, JMT2568 said:

Thank you so much for all your posts a lot of good information.

 

How did you Ocean Villa at GSC?  We are thinking about possible getting a cabana.

 

Also, it seemed like they only have the seashell for sun coverage if you're on the beach, is that correct, or do they have umbrella too?

On the main beach I did not see completely, but from a distance, it appeared that they only had clamshells which have a cost to rent for the day.  Other than that, they had free lounge chairs but no shade.

 

We’ve previously rented both the small cabanas and the premier cabanas, which is why we splurged this time on the villa….only nominal higher cost but far worth the additional amount.  The other cabanas are very nice and have bar staff and food available.  We’ve used these at least 3 other times and always enjoyed them.  Good value.

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limeyalchemist

limeyalchemist

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4 hours ago, Dirtdevil71 said:

Or returning new crew members that are complete with their 5 day quarantine, positive thoughts, 7 days till we board, can’t wait.  You’ve given us hope!! 

Good point.  All the Captain announced, very discretely, is that they were “transferring provisions and crew from one ship to the other” so could well be recovered crew.

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classy_cruiser

classy_cruiser

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11 hours ago, FrankieCruise said:

We just got off the Encore. It was a wonderful cruise. It felt like real luxury having no lines for elevators, finding seats anywhere we wanted, including shows, pool, etc. The only downside was the entertainment. We always enjoy the Broadway performances, which due to 4 performers in Kinky Boots covid positive was still canceled. We talked to one performer who was getting of the ship mid crew to train new performers I'm hopes of having them ready for this next week. The magician was not that good. The comedians were not our sense of humor...I'm sure some that they were funny? The Thermal Spa was fantastic..got a day pass on the first DR port day. We didn't know that port and had only 3 choices for excursions that we weren't interested in. We were so happy that we did the Thermal Spa that day! Had the place almost to ourselves. It ended up raining that day, which felt like a bonus for our choice. I had the best massage by Jelly... so well worth it! I highly recommend her. 

The day at Nassau we walked to Margaritaville, bought a day pass and used their pool, lazy river, beach, flow rider, paddle board for$59.  Maybe saw 10 people there at the most. Beautiful new resort. 

All and all we are so thrilled we decided not to cancel! We felt safer on the ship than walking through our local grocery store. NCL has done an outstanding job in testing their employees and we were told are the first to cancel than sale unsafe.

Thanks for the details! Margaritaville at $59 per person sounds like a really good deal. It says over $100 for the day pass on their website. 

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NYR56

NYR56

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Just got off the Encore yesterday, we had an amazing time! Very happy we didn't cancel - really our only fear was potentially testing positive in port after flying down to Miami. I heard the same #s - 1300 guests, 1700 staff. Missed not seeing the main musicals but plenty of other entertainment to go around. Unlike posters above we absolutely loved both comedians as well as the magician - saw nearly all of their shows, but comedy is more of a personal preference (we're in our mid 30s and go to comedy shows semi regularly). Each show was different than the others, which isn't how it usually has been on cruise ships for us in the past. No lines, extremely personalized service, and they certainly weren't annoying about the masking. Only possible negative about this ship is the large Vibe Beach Club area significantly limits the available pool deck. It wasn't an issue for a 1300 passenger cruise but I think that would have been annoying on a full ship. We would have missed the free adults only area that was on the Escape/Getaway had there been more guests/kids. Of course, if you plan to buy passes for Vibe, this is a plus. Food was amazing as always on Norwegian even though we only did two specialty dinners this time. Posters above have done a nice job giving details but I'm happy to answer any questions too.

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