Just returned from Alaska, our experience

[abugarcia1]

We just retuned from our first cruise. We were fortunate enough to stay in the Haven on the Encore to Alaska. Happy to answer any questions as a newbie ourselves, this was a completely new experience for us.

We embarked out of Seattle. The initial process seemed a bit hectic as to where to drop off luggage and then the check-in and security process. On a side note, we had rented a car from Enterprise because we were told they offer a shuttle to the pier from their location on 3rd Street in Seattle. That is NOT the case anymore. No more shuttle. Anyhow when we finally reached the port, we dropped off our luggage and then got into line. This is where we needed to show our boarding pass. Either a printed copy or it may be scanned on your phone. After that was the security line. The whole process while it seemed hectic, only took about 20 minutes. From there we went up stairs for registration. At the top of the stairs you may either go left or right. To the right is a sign for the Haven. If there were any previous announcements or signs for the Haven, we did not notice. We simply changed from following the group to going into the Haven room. We were asked our room number so this is helpful if you have that information. This is also where you will need to show your proof of negative Covid test and that the information has been completed for the ArriveCan App. By the way, since we were traveling we elected to go to one of the Covid testing spots for our test. Our location ended up being a van parked outside some hotel. Not what we envisioned but we did what we had to do. From this point on, our experience changed greatly. As Gary and others have said, this waiting room is much nicer than the other room. There are comfortable chairs and couches and a table set up with fresh cut fruit, treats and juices. My wife even walked across the hall to check out the other registration room as she could not believe how nice our room was. We had elected for an earlier embarkation at 9:30am. We checked in and then grabbed some refreshments and relaxed. Within about 20 minutes we were told we would be going onto the ship. Our concierge Adrian (who was outstanding) introduced himself and then lead us as a whole onto the ship and directly to the Haven and into the Horizon Lounge. He again introduced himself and said a few words. After that Adrian announced that our rooms were ready and that we may go to lunch at the Haven or that the American Diner would also be complimentary today. From what others have said and what we have read here, we elected to eat at the Haven. We quickly learned the food and service at the Haven was outstanding! After a couple of days we were always greeted by name and even had our "favorite" table and were always greeted with "your table is ready" Throughout our cruise we ate every meal in the Haven with the exception of one night where we tried the Local. The Haven was just that much better in our opinion. We tried several different meals. For breakfast we enjoyed the eggs benedict, french toast, waffle and steak and eggs. The waffle we really liked. Pancakes were good but a little too sweet for our taste. Lunch we had the mushroom flatbread everyday. Love that. The burger was very good with your choice of cheese. My favorite was the french dip. Growing up in Chicago, all this needed was some giardiniara and it would be the best in Chicago. Dinner favorites were the butternut squash soup. Prime rib and veal scallopini and shrimp scampi. Also really enjoyed the shrimp Louie appetizer. It does take a bit getting used to however you may order whatever you would like. We eventually ordered two meals and a couple of desserts. The carrot cake and lunch was one of our favorites. The food and service was so good at the Haven, we just did not have any interest in going anywhere else. The service was very good at the Local however the fish and chips tasted like it just went from freezer to fryer. The wings were OK as was the beef chili. The food at the Haven is just that much better. Our butler was very good. Being fairly self sufficient, we did not feel the need to use many of the services of our butler. He did deliver treats and snacks to our room everyday and was often around if needed. We probably spoke to our room steward more often than our butler who we really appreciated for his work. The lounge was amazing. Big comfortable chairs with great views. There are breakfast items available in the morning and snacks in the afternoon. Often we would have our main meal in the Haven, then visit the lounge for our after meal relaxation and treats. As a member in the Haven we did have the opportunity for priority disembarkation at our ports. Adrian (concierge) would personally take folks down to the gangway on private elevators. There was no priority returning to the ship however we were usually off the ship within minutes at each port. We had originally scheduled dog sledding on a glacier in Juneau. We received word on the ship that was canceled. Adrian recommended that we visit the summer camp instead of a different glacier option that we were considering. Turned out to be a great suggestion as visiting with the dogs at this camp was amazing and while we were not on snow, we still were able to be pulled by the sled dogs on a big cart. There are busses and vans at the port in Juneau and people with signs directing you where to go. The town is about a 15 minute bus ride which is a free ride. We did not to go into town after our excursion. In Skagway we elected to do the White Planes train ride. Skagway also had vans to take you into town. $3 dollars for a one way trip, $5 for ride all day. Otherwise the town is about a 15-20 minute walk from the ship. Our train ride was delayed for some reason so we had time to shop in town, go back to the ship for lunch in the Haven, then back for the train ride. We initially elected the VIP option for the train but due to some mix up, we ended up with general admission tickets and seats. This worked out fine as we were able to see everything and the seats are fairly roomy bench style seats. Our trip for some reason ended up being longer than scheduled however these are some of the best views anywhere. The weather was also perfect this day. The next day we went to see Choir of Men. Kinky Boots was not available for our cruise and even though my wife was not that excited about going to Choir of Men, we both agreed that the show was excellent. Lots of music and very well done. We would have gone to see this again if we had the time. Reservations are not needed as there is seating reserved for the Haven. Ketchikan was our last port and most memorable. NCL has a new port that they have built which is 20 minutes outside of Ketchikan. There is some shopping inside this building otherwise a bus ride is needed to get into town. We elected to take the Bearing Sea Crab Tour as we have been fans of Deadliest Catch. Easily the best tour of our trip. Yes we got to visit and tour that boat. Yes we were told stories and history. Yes we even did some fishing and they pulled up crab pots. But, we also went to a point that was literally filled with eagles. A dozen or more. Very impressive! We also ended up seeing a whale and was able to hold many sea creatures including a crab, starfish, shrimp oh and we even got to see a live octopus. This was the most memorable part of our trip and so worth it. Highly recommend this. Our last stop was in Victoria. While we were delayed for some reason getting off, it was not due to ArriveCan or anything like that. We were told it was something to do with port security. Once we were off, again there were shuttles and busses that could take you into Victoria which by the way is a beautiful town. We were back into Seattle by 6am the next day. We thought it was really nice that NCL had not only the breakfast treats available in the lounge but we also were able to have breakfast in the Haven. Knowing that new people would be coming aboard within hours, we really felt this was a nice option. So we had our last breakfast in the Haven. We had also elected to use the Port of Seattle for our bags which means they needed to be outside our door by 11pm Saturday night. We planned to walk around Pike Place Market before going to the airport. It was very nice to not have to worry about our bags. We had our breakfast before heading out. Adrian again greeted us by name before escorting us out. Getting off the ship took only minutes. We were then about to walk around Pike Place before flying home. Our bags made it no problem. Absolutely impressed with the service and experience of the Haven. We met a few people who were also first timers. We all agreed that if we cruise again, we feel that the bar has been set and we may not be able to take a "normal" cruise. No question from the service to the food, this is a special experience. Thank you to all who have posted here as Cruise Critic was our main source of information leading up to our cruise. 

[The Shrike]

First cruise and it was in the Haven?  Yep, you're ruined for any other room type.  🙂  Glad you enjoyed it.

But wow, that is a giant wall of text!  Breaking it up into paragraphs would make reading it a whole lot easier.

[say72]

Thanks so much! We are heading on that cruise soon. Do you happen to have the daily schedules?

[gvgseg]

44 minutes ago, abugarcia1 said:

We had also elected to use the Port of Seattle for our bags which means they needed to be outside our door by 11pm Saturday night. We planned to walk around Pike Place Market before going to the airport. It was very nice to not have to worry about our bags. We had our breakfast before heading out. Adrian again greeted us by name before escorting us out. Getting off the ship took only minutes. We were then about to walk around Pike Place before flying home. Our bags made it no problem.

I'm also considering doing the Port Valet option when I am on Encore in August. You mentioned that you had breakfast in the Haven before heading out. Were you required to disembark with the very first group off the ship? I had read that this is required for people who use Port Valet?

[abugarcia1]

Thanks for your question, sorry we did not save those. I will add that one of the articles that we read was to bring a highlighter. We did not use our highlighter and did not really use the daily schedules. The daily schedules we helpful for what was scheduled each day for the ship however we received a message almost daily from our concierge about any changes or what was going on that day. There are also copies of the excursion options at the concierge desk in the Haven as well as the excursion desk which I believe was on the 6th floor mid ship. We also used the schedule on the TV in our room which was also updated by the minute.

[abugarcia1]

19 minutes ago, The Shrike said:

First cruise and it was in the Haven?  Yep, you're ruined for any other room type.  🙂  Glad you enjoyed it.

But wow, that is a giant wall of text!  Breaking it up into paragraphs would make reading it a whole lot easier.

Good point, thanks. Was never a very good student. 🙂

[abugarcia1]

2 minutes ago, gvgseg said:

I'm also considering doing the Port Valet option when I am on Encore in August. You mentioned that you had breakfast in the Haven before heading out. Were you required to disembark with the very first group off the ship? I had read that this is required for people who use Port Valet?

Since we used the Port Valet, we were able to disembark at our leisure. So we took our time getting ready in the morning before going to breakfast. We left the ship at about 8:30 which only took a few minutes to actually walk off.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[ChiefMateJRK]

48 minutes ago, abugarcia1 said:

This is where we needed to show our boarding pass. Either a printed copy or it may be scanned on your phone.

I have always shown them a printed copy of the eDocs.  What did you have on your phone that they could scan?

[abugarcia1]

12 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I have always shown them a printed copy of the eDocs.  What did you have on your phone that they could scan?

We used our phones and the boarding pass in our E-Docs from the NCL App. Less paperwork to carry and worry about.

[drumming cruisers]

Your review was great, and we could read it fine. 

Going on encore in August. 

Do ou have pictures of the new Ward Cove area? and Whales?

 

[bookbabe]

LOL…we were on the same cruise, and it’s funny how experiences can differ.  I guess not having anything to compare it to makes a huge difference, I know my mom (new to Haven and hasn’t cruised in 25+ years) felt much the same as the OP.

 

The Seattle Haven lounge is really dumpy if you’ve been to the swanky new one in Miami.  Atmosphere, food, furniture were all an order of magnitude nicer in Miami.  The Seattle lounge was a bit of a letdown in comparison.  Adrian, however, is best concierge we’ve had thus far.
 

Service in the Haven restaurant was not nearly as good as we’ve had in the past.  Much slower than on previous cruises, and the wait staff was fairly chaotic and unorganized compared to previous experiences.  The food was okay, but it was better at Xmas…we wondered if the chef had just switched out?  On the Victoria night, the slip printer in the kitchen went down, and no one noticed, leaving meals unmade for about 45 minutes before the issue was fixed and they could try to catch up.  Luckily, we didn't have an excursion booked so the delay wasn't an issue for us like it was for one family we saw, who had to skip dinner since they had to leave before it arrived.

 

Ward Cove wasn't nearly as bad as some of the naysayers pre-cruise warned about.  Was it as good as walking off the ship into downtown?  No, but NCL seems to book the cheap seats at most ports, so that’s par for the course as it were.

 

Freestyle Dailies for the week were posted in the roll call, and in the roll call group on the Book of Face.

 

Glacier Bay was great, and had the best weather of the trip.  Watching the glaciers go by from the comfort of your balcony, while wearing shorts and a t-shirt was just awesome.

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

3 hours ago, abugarcia1 said:

We used our phones and the boarding pass in our E-Docs from the NCL App. Less paperwork to carry and worry about.

Thanks.  I tried that and it seems fairly simple.  That said, as with airline boarding passes, I'll still have backup paper copies with me.  Belt and suspenders.

[UKstages]

5 hours ago, abugarcia1 said:

Lunch we had the mushroom flatbread everyday. Love that. 

 

me, too. the single best food item on the ship, in my opinion. (and i'm including the lobster tail and filet in my calculations.)

 

great recap of the trip... enjoyed reading this, thanks for taking the time.

[abugarcia1]

39 minutes ago, UKstages said:

 

me, too. the single best food item on the ship, in my opinion. (and i'm including the lobster tail and filet in my calculations.)

 

great recap of the trip... enjoyed reading this, thanks for taking the time.

Thanks, we agree. Not sure we will be able to find that at any restaurant now that we're off the ship, but we did enjoy that!

[abugarcia1]

1 hour ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Thanks.  I tried that and it seems fairly simple.  That said, as with airline boarding passes, I'll still have backup paper copies with me.  Belt and suspenders.

Ha. Always a good plan!

[abugarcia1]

3 hours ago, bookbabe said:

LOL…we were on the same cruise, and it’s funny how experiences can differ.  I guess not having anything to compare it to makes a huge difference, I know my mom (new to Haven and hasn’t cruised in 25+ years) felt much the same as the OP.

 

The Seattle Haven lounge is really dumpy if you’ve been to the swanky new one in Miami.  Atmosphere, food, furniture were all an order of magnitude nicer in Miami.  The Seattle lounge was a bit of a letdown in comparison.  Adrian, however, is best concierge we’ve had thus far.
 

Service in the Haven restaurant was not nearly as good as we’ve had in the past.  Much slower than on previous cruises, and the wait staff was fairly chaotic and unorganized compared to previous experiences.  The food was okay, but it was better at Xmas…we wondered if the chef had just switched out?  On the Victoria night, the slip printer in the kitchen went down, and no one noticed, leaving meals unmade for about 45 minutes before the issue was fixed and they could try to catch up.  Luckily, we didn't have an excursion booked so the delay wasn't an issue for us like it was for one family we saw, who had to skip dinner since they had to leave before it arrived.

 

Ward Cove wasn't nearly as bad as some of the naysayers pre-cruise warned about.  Was it as good as walking off the ship into downtown?  No, but NCL seems to book the cheap seats at most ports, so that’s par for the course as it were.

 

Freestyle Dailies for the week were posted in the roll call, and in the roll call group on the Book of Face.

 

Glacier Bay was great, and had the best weather of the trip.  Watching the glaciers go by from the comfort of your balcony, while wearing shorts and a t-shirt was just awesome.

 

Thanks for your point of view, makes us want to visit the new Miami location to check it out for our next cruise

[abugarcia1]

4 hours ago, drumming cruisers said:

Your review was great, and we could read it fine. 

Going on encore in August. 

Do ou have pictures of the new Ward Cove area? and Whales?

 

Thank you. Sorry no pictures from Ward Cove but a couple of pictures from our excursion on the water. Enjoy your cruise!

[drumming cruisers]

We are staying at Marriott Seattle Waterfront. What restaurant is in the hotel? Do they serve meals?

I can only find Hook and Plow which is breakfast only. and website says they have snacks etc. Nothing about a restaurant, that I can find. 

[bookbabe]

16 minutes ago, drumming cruisers said:

We are staying at Marriott Seattle Waterfront. What restaurant is in the hotel? Do they serve meals?

I can only find Hook and Plow which is breakfast only. and website says they have snacks etc. Nothing about a restaurant, that I can find. 

I think that’s the only restaurant there at the moment.  There’s lots of great restaurants all along the waterfront and in Pike Place Market, though.

Edited May 17, 2022 by bookbabe

[bookbabe]

Ward Cove - derelict paper/pulp mill turned cruise terminal

[abugarcia1]

1 hour ago, drumming cruisers said:

We are staying at Marriott Seattle Waterfront. What restaurant is in the hotel? Do they serve meals?

I can only find Hook and Plow which is breakfast only. and website says they have snacks etc. Nothing about a restaurant, that I can find. 

That's a great location as the pier is across the street. Not sure about what restaurant is in the Marriott however there are several restaurants within a couple blocks of that area including a dozen or so at Pike Place Market.

[abugarcia1]

1 hour ago, bookbabe said:

Ward Cove - derelict paper/pulp mill turned cruise terminal

Great pictures of Ward Cove

[abugarcia1]

Those raincoats were also a great deal at $25.00

[hello]

Thank you for all of your information and comments!