Just back from the Encore! Any questions?

[SenatorsFan]

32 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Aren't they exactly the same thing?  We've gone to both and made our decisions based upon meaningless things like if somebody else was in front of us or how "crowded" they looked.

Yes, the menu is the same, but we found the servers friendlier and more efficient at Taste. We tried each one once and based on that small sample decided to stick with Taste a couple more times. 😀

[PATRLR]

20 minutes ago, SenatorsFan said:

Yes, the menu is the same, but we found the servers friendlier and more efficient at Taste. We tried each one once and based on that small sample decided to stick with Taste a couple more times. 😀

We did similar, except for us it was Manhatten.

 

[ewl]

Leaving on the Encore in 13 days! I feel silly asking but I know DD will want to know:  has the ship made the switch to Coke products yet? Or still on Pepsi?

[ylwdogsc]

Is it ok to post this link in our Facebook group?

 

[DMS1]

I just got off the Encore, Dec 4. It was great!

To answer a few questions:

Yes it was Coke products.

I found service at Manhattan to be a little bit more attentive.

We had a new CD, a lady, Majenda (sp?), and Alexa was not there.

Christmas decorations appeared on Dec 1

[myk249]

Thanks for taking questions.

 

We are on her in a couple of weeks and are wondering how you communicated with others in your party who may be somewhere else on the ship?  Do the room phones travel with you? Your mobile phone over ship wifi?

 

 

[jdvmd]

38 minutes ago, myk249 said:

Thanks for taking questions.

 

We are on her in a couple of weeks and are wondering how you communicated with others in your party who may be somewhere else on the ship?  Do the room phones travel with you? Your mobile phone over ship wifi?

 

 

Room phones do not travel with you. I think the messaging feature with your phone only works if you have the wifi package. We did not and never could get it to work. Also didn't have a need for it.

 

[jdvmd]

15 hours ago, ewl said:

Leaving on the Encore in 13 days! I feel silly asking but I know DD will want to know:  has the ship made the switch to Coke products yet? Or still on Pepsi?

Coke.

 

[Lil'red]

On 11/21/2022 at 2:46 PM, jdvmd said:

Got off the ship yesterday morning! Fantastic experience. Have all the dailies.

We leave on Dec. 23rd, do they have Coke on the Encore? 

[CruisingGator96]

On 12/5/2022 at 7:49 PM, DMS1 said:

I just got off the Encore, Dec 4. It was great!

To answer a few questions:

Yes it was Coke products.

I found service at Manhattan to be a little bit more attentive.

We had a new CD, a lady, Majenda (sp?), and Alexa was not there.

Christmas decorations appeared on Dec 1

DMS1, did you go to Amber Cove or Puerto Plata?  We are on a March Encore sailing with Puerto Plata as the port but I’ve read that has been changed or canceled for some cruises.

[DMS1]

21 hours ago, CruisingGator96 said:

DMS1, did you go to Amber Cove or Puerto Plata?  We are on a March Encore sailing with Puerto Plata as the port but I’ve read that has been changed or canceled for some cruises.

Yes we did stop at Amber Cove in the DR. It has a nice pool and water sports area.

I heard of someone walking to a beach area, but I am not sure where

I thought the all day zip line pass was a great deal for a younger cruiser. Your drink card does

not get you anything here.

We got off the ship, sat by the pool for a few hours, it was enjoyable.

[myk249]

One more...which night was theme night, and what was the theme?

 

Thanks!

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, myk249 said:

One more...which night was theme night, and what was the theme?

 

Thanks!

I've been on the Encore twice post-Covid.  IIRC, every night was "theme night" and the theme was "FREESTYLE!!"  😎

[CruisingGator96]

15 hours ago, DMS1 said:

Yes we did stop at Amber Cove in the DR. It has a nice pool and water sports area.

I heard of someone walking to a beach area, but I am not sure where

I thought the all day zip line pass was a great deal for a younger cruiser. Your drink card does

not get you anything here.

We got off the ship, sat by the pool for a few hours, it was enjoyable.

Thanks. Appreciate the response. 

[Sherrica]

We will be on the Encore Jan 22. I can't wait.  Did Mirko possibly work for Princess previously? Do you have a photo of the officer's collage by chance?

 

Thanks for sharing!

[cementhands]

On 11/21/2022 at 3:46 PM, jdvmd said:

Got off the ship yesterday morning! Fantastic experience. Have all the dailies.

Was there a few different comics onboard. Live bands and dancing opportunities. Line dancing. Zumba? Most recent cruise was boring post covid19. Prior on Bliss and Gem was like 20,000 steps a day dancing! Lost weight. Most recent in May lack of entertainment and live music and dancing was boring, is it back to normal?

[akny]

Thanks for taking questions. Did you had FAS+ ? if yes, were the premium drinks available. Reading lot of complaints of bars out of stock of FAS+ offerings. Thanks

[Pittfan763]

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences.  We are cruising on the Encore sailing Jan 8, 2023

 

A few quick questions:

 

1.  Can anyone confirm if there are frappuccinos included with the drink package at Starbucks?  Just came off of a cruise with Royal Caribbean where they were included.  🙂

 

2.  Does anyone know if there are dessert crepes served (normally we have found this in the buffet when they are available)?

 

3.  Did anyone decide on a tour for Tortola and St Thomas?  We are traveling with my father-in-law who has limited mobility walking, so we are going to skip on touring the baths.  With the stop at Great Stirupp Cay, we are trying to hold that day for the beach day.

 

4.  Does anyone know if/when they have Lobster night?

 

Thanks!

Jason and family

[weltek]

Just off the Encore 12/18. A few responses to questions I've seen here:

-They had Coke products
-I rarely in the atrium, so the one day I made a point of it, it was already 11 am and I couldn't tell if there had been morning coffee. There was an empty table that still had messed up tablecloths on it near the big screen, so maybe? 
-The buffet bar was open on disembarkation day and I heard someone order a mimosa. So, maybe they WERE pouring alcohol? That was around 8:30, so it was fairly early and there might also be a cutoff time as the zero out accounts and encourage folks off? So, I'd suggest trying to get that bloody mary early.
-The library is located in the card room off the atrium. A few shelves of kids books, tween books and lots of books for teens and adults. There were checkout times posted in the dailies, but I think you could also do self checkout.

A few random observations that might help you:
-Show reservations: lots of no shows, so don't be discouraged. Go to the standby line for The Social.
-We had the best meal at Cagney's I've ever had. 
-Some bartenders really push drinks they have pre-batched (or partially pre-batched) and aren't thrilled to riff or mix other drinks. This was a slight noticeable change from our other cruises. But for the most part, the bartenders were good and friendly. District crew and pool bartenders were especially awesome.
-Observation lounge is awesome. Next level comfortable, big and beautiful. Great place to watch docking while heading into ports. And the snacks there were very adequate to make a light meal or substantial snack out of. It gets busy around 3pm when the buffet is "closed" for reset. In general, the first day people paid attention to the fact it's a "quiet zone," but then it ramped up for the rest of the cruise. It's a nice place for larger family units to hang out, and obviously groups are just noisier. The people the nap and snore are the worst. Not okay. Go to your cabin if you need a nap.
-Buffet was good. Surprised they had whole suckling pigs at lunch on Latin theme day. Cheesecake in the buffet and Obs Lounge was not good, and lame cheesecake isn't worth the calories to me. I was ready to declare NCL terrible at cheesecake. But then I tried it at Cagney's and it was good. So, someone on ship can make a decent cheesecake. 🙂 In the Obs Lounge, just get a pastelito instead of cheesecake if you want something sweet. They were awesome.
-The card room near the atrium is tucked away and was never busy. Most game players were doing so in the Obs Lounge. So, if you need a quiet spot to work or read, check it out. 
-Talk to the leadership staff-they are great! The guest services manager, Sarah, was very approachable. Go to the Cruise Critic Meet & Greet, so you get their direct numbers. 
-The CruiseNext staff did a hard sell at the desk, trying to make multiples sound like a better deal than they are, so do yourself a favor and fill out the form and drop it off quickly to avoid it. 

[jdvmd]

On 12/16/2022 at 9:54 PM, Pittfan763 said:

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences.  We are cruising on the Encore sailing Jan 8, 2023

 

A few quick questions:

 

1.  Can anyone confirm if there are frappuccinos included with the drink package at Starbucks?  Just came off of a cruise with Royal Caribbean where they were included.  🙂

 

2.  Does anyone know if there are dessert crepes served (normally we have found this in the buffet when they are available)?

 

3.  Did anyone decide on a tour for Tortola and St Thomas?  We are traveling with my father-in-law who has limited mobility walking, so we are going to skip on touring the baths.  With the stop at Great Stirupp Cay, we are trying to hold that day for the beach day.

 

4.  Does anyone know if/when they have Lobster night?

 

Thanks!

Jason and family

The only place I saw crepes this time around was in the "pay for it" ice cream place - Coco's?

Husband had lobster on the second night of the cruise.

[jdvmd]

On 12/16/2022 at 1:30 PM, akny said:

Thanks for taking questions. Did you had FAS+ ? if yes, were the premium drinks available. Reading lot of complaints of bars out of stock of FAS+ offerings. Thanks

We did not have any kind of drink package.

 

[jdvmd]

On 12/15/2022 at 6:15 AM, cementhands said:

Was there a few different comics onboard. Live bands and dancing opportunities. Line dancing. Zumba? Most recent cruise was boring post covid19. Prior on Bliss and Gem was like 20,000 steps a day dancing! Lost weight. Most recent in May lack of entertainment and live music and dancing was boring, is it back to normal?

There were two different comics on board. We went to the regular show as well as one adult one. We didn't think they were funny at all. Just bad.

[jdvmd]

On 12/12/2022 at 4:56 PM, myk249 said:

One more...which night was theme night, and what was the theme?

 

Thanks!

We had the white night and 80s night.

[jdvmd]

On 12/9/2022 at 8:22 AM, Lil'red said:

We leave on Dec. 23rd, do they have Coke on the Encore? 

Coke.

[jdvmd]

On 12/14/2022 at 11:17 PM, Sherrica said:

We will be on the Encore Jan 22. I can't wait.  Did Mirko possibly work for Princess previously? Do you have a photo of the officer's collage by chance?

 

Thanks for sharing!

Sorry, I don't have a photo.