MITSUGIRLY's ENCORE pictorial and extensive REVIEW

[bluesea777]

10 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

 

Oh nice, a Panama Canal cruise (one I've always wanted to do) and on the Gem (one I have not been on yet). I may have to look into this for next year!

 

Dec 2-11 and 11-20, 2024 with overnight in Panama City (at end of 1st leg). Out of Miami, so only one short round trip flight for us, no long hauls this time! It's next on our bucket list, and we get to do the PC crossing twice! And different ports of call on each leg!

 

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by bluesea777

[mitsugirly]

We headed back to the room and I handed Sakari two of her Christmas presents that I had managed to sneak into our luggage without her knowledge. I need a mom of the year award for this.

 

 

On our last vacation to Grand Cayman, I had brought along some of our games to play while we were in the house. One of them was UNO cards only to find out that we only had 2 colors instead of 4. I have absolutely no idea what happened to the rest of the deck. So, I got her another set so that we can properly play the game without her yelling "You're cheating somehow". She found it hilarious after opening and screamed "We can finally play a real game!"

 

 

 

Onto the next present...something she has really taken a liking to. A chess set. My dad bought me one at a young age and taught me how to play. It was a magnetic chess board and you could take it anywhere and not have to worry about the pieces falling or blowing off. I loved it but can't seem to figure out what I did with it over the last couple of years. I knew that we would have many years of playing on this board and could take it anywhere with us on vacation. It even came with checkers as well. 

 

 

Of course I challenged her to a game. She's been practicing a lot lately with her bf on an online game and has taught him how to play...but has she learned enough to beat her momma yet is the real question? We will find out soon.

 

If the next picture don't tell you who the winner was I don't know what will. 😁

 

 

Well that only lasted one game and she was done.

 

We headed for some food for dinner and went to the buffet. This soup (I want to say it might have been cauliflower soup) was AMAZING!

 

 

It was now almost 7pm and we wanted to go to the comedy club. We always love these shows, but of course still have to go to the "family" version of it...at least for a few more years.

 

Tonight's show was with a lady named Jessi Campbell. We came, we sat, we listened, we looked at each other, we left when it was over. She really wasn't very good and was one of those comedian's that told a joke, that wasn't that funny, then laughed at herself each time. We walked away hoping that each show would not be like this and ran into other people on the ship that didn't care for her either. 

 

Now our cruise director Tiera was hilarious! I wonder if she was a comedian at one point. She was great with the jokes and making everyone laugh!

 

 

After the show, I was itching to head to the casino and try my luck...or someone's luck, I didn't care just as long as I got to play. Sakari headed back to the room and we headed to the casino. 

 

Our philosophy is to put $20 in and if we double, we cash out. We had 3 chances to try this out tonight. In other words we each went with $60.

 

I absolutely loved this game and it would randomly pop up where a dragon with balls would drop on the screen and then a wheel would spin and you earned money. I did pretty good almost every time I played. 

 

 

Doubled my money on the Piggy Wiggly Squeak game...cashed out. 

 

 

 

Then came the big winner of the night and I definitely cashed out and called it quits for the night.

 

 

We went back to the room as I paraded around showing Sakari my winnings and decided to head to the buffet for a "winning" snack. NS vanilla ice cream it was!

 

 

It was about an hour past our normal bedtime at home and it had been a long day so off to get some Zzz's by 10:30pm.

[mitsugirly]

30 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

 

Dec 2-11 and 11-20, 2024 with overnight in Panama City (at end of 1st leg). Out of Miami, so only one short round trip flight for us, no long hauls this time! It's next on our bucket list, and we get to do the PC crossing twice! And different ports of call on each leg!

 

 

 

Oh wow, that's so cool. You planned that out perfectly!

[david_sobe]

OMG its been a few years since I have seen one of your pictorial reviews.  Your munchkin grew up to be a mini-me of you. I had to do a double take 😲

[schmoopie17]

I know I'm late to the party, but $3.25 for a one bite cake pop?? Yikes...at that rate an entire cake would be about $1,000.

 

At least you get to keep the stick...

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by schmoopie17

[Laszlo]

Great review as always Kim!!!

 

Merry Christmas to you and your family

[LatinaInTexas]

Always love your reviews and pics. Can't believe how Sakari has morphed from a cute little mermaid into a beautiful young lady.

I took my first NCL cruise this year and loved it. So much so I booked Alaska on the Encore for next May.

Looking forward to hearing and seeing the rest of your review.

[Victorious8]

This makes me so happy! I love your reviews, I’m headed on the Breakaway Sunday and was randomly reading your Joy review to get some ideas from ports

 

I’m dying to know, is Sakari’s new bf the “Mr. potential” from last cruise???

 

I did the inaugural Encore cruise as the lone solo in her early 30’s and it was such an amazing experience. I was given a free upgrade to a balcony because they said there was issues with my room (I had booked a studio). I made tons of friends and all of your venue pictures brought back so many happy memories. 
 

This cruise will be my first going with a partner! I’m so excited to experience a cruise with someone. Can’t wait to read the rest of this when I’m home! 

[mitsugirly]

16 hours ago, david_sobe said:

OMG its been a few years since I have seen one of your pictorial reviews.  Your munchkin grew up to be a mini-me of you. I had to do a double take 😲

 

She's always been my mini-me (that's what I've always called her). She looks just like me when I was little and she was little at the same age. We compare pictures all the time. 😁 I posted a picture of me back when I was around 10 on social media about a month ago and she thought it was her. LOL

 

 

14 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

I know I'm late to the party, but $3.25 for a one bite cake pop?? Yikes...at that rate an entire cake would be about $1,000.

 

At least you get to keep the stick...

 

 

LOL (the stick)... I know right? Crazy prices. I wonder how many of them they really sell? I would never pay that.

 

11 hours ago, Laszlo said:

Great review as always Kim!!!

 

Merry Christmas to you and your family

 

Thank you Laszlo. Good to hear from you. Merry Christmas to you and your family as well!

 

10 hours ago, LatinaInTexas said:

Always love your reviews and pics. Can't believe how Sakari has morphed from a cute little mermaid into a beautiful young lady.

I took my first NCL cruise this year and loved it. So much so I booked Alaska on the Encore for next May.

Looking forward to hearing and seeing the rest of your review.

 

Thank you so much. I remind her of her mermaid days all the time and we joke about it as I point to all mermaid related things when we are out. Although I had hope she might try on that tail again some day, I don't think it's going to happen. 😞

 

Glad to hear you loved NCL. I'm looking/wanting to book an Alaskan cruise too. I'm thinking maybe next summer. It's something Sakari is really wanting to do. 

 

3 hours ago, Victorious8 said:

This makes me so happy! I love your reviews, I’m headed on the Breakaway Sunday and was randomly reading your Joy review to get some ideas from ports

 

I’m dying to know, is Sakari’s new bf the “Mr. potential” from last cruise???

 

I did the inaugural Encore cruise as the lone solo in her early 30’s and it was such an amazing experience. I was given a free upgrade to a balcony because they said there was issues with my room (I had booked a studio). I made tons of friends and all of your venue pictures brought back so many happy memories. 
 

This cruise will be my first going with a partner! I’m so excited to experience a cruise with someone. Can’t wait to read the rest of this when I’m home! 

Thanks so much! I hope you were able to get some good ideas for ports. (If you haven't noticed, I have a port section dedicated to just the ports and things we did in them for ideas on my page).

 

No, her "new" bf from the last cruise was a friend in her circle of friends at school that only lasted 2 months. I think he was just a rebound because of the attention he showed her. It didn't last long. Although he was nice, he wasn't a good match for her and she soon realized that. The new bf is someone from work she met over a year ago (so weird to know she's been working for a year now yikes where has time went?) and had a crush on but they were both in relationships. He's such a sweet boy and very respectful: opens doors for her, always buying her flowers, if I'm not home and say he can't come over and they are going out to eat or something he will stand at the door and wait for her (and even bring her a coat to put over her in case it starts to sprinkle from walking out the door to the car lol) and goes to a catholic school. We love him!

 

So happy you get to cruise with someone this time! It will definitely be a different experience and I hope you have a wonderful cruise!

[mitsugirly]

Ok, back to my regular scheduled program. I took a break last night and went to the Wildlights Christmas display at the zoo with my son (and family) and Sakari and her bf and we had such a good time. Then out to eat and was so tired I burned and crashed as soon as I got home (had totally expected to come back and continue with the review). 

 

DAY 2: OUR FIRST SEA DAY

 

I'm going to be completely honest...I really don't care for sea days. I know they provide so many things to do on the ship, but unless it's a show or something, it really doesn't interest me. I usually don't get involved in any paid activities (bingo, deal or no deal and so on) so I aimlessly wander around the ship, starring at the dailies, trying to come to a conclusion to fill our time until nighttime when the shows start. I'd much rather be at a port experiencing what it has to offer. I try hard to find cruises that have port intensive itineraries and at least this cruise had 4 ports. 

 

I woke up at 7am...I think my body is in shock at this point that it is getting 2 extra hours in the morning of sleep. Last night Christopher knocked on the door to handed me a card. Was it a special invitation to some extravagant gathering? Nope, it was letting me know that we were having a time change and would lose an extra hour of sleep that night...so actually I REALLY only got an extra hour of sleep. Oh well, you win some you lose some.

 

I really love this about NCL...changing the time as we change into a different time zone so that our time matches the port time and there's no confusion over when to be back to the ship. 

 

 

 

Not knowing what to do with myself as the family continued to sleep, I remembered "oh yea, I have a balcony to enjoy this cruise" and headed out.

 

I took a famous @sdmike picture of my feet as I sat there watching the sunrise come up. Notice how swollen my ankle still is...even after my third surgery this year. But hey, at least I can walk right again. 

 

 

 

It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day and I could see we had company out in the distance.

 

 

 

 

 

The family finally woke up and we headed up to the buffet for breakfast at 8:45am to seek out what goodies they had. I spotted POTATOS!  Real potato's. I haven't had real potato's in such a long time. We usually eat sweet potato's/fries and they are so yummy, but you would not find that here on the ship. I made sure not to glance over at the hubby while scarfing down my new found goodies and he did not mumble a word to me about it. Also pineapple is (was) one of my favorite fruits, but since it's so loaded with sugar, I hadn't had any for over a year and I indulged in a few pieces of it too. I also threw in some sugary melons too. I was living the dream today. I tell ya, I'm throwing caution to the wind this time around!

 

 

The seating situation was a lot better this morning than the day before and we were able to score a seat by the window. Sakari loves to eat by the window if at all possible. 

 

 

There's Carnival Celebration out there. 

 

 

As we sat there and enjoyed our breakfast, we heard singing off in the distance. They had really harmonized voices and were very convincing to try their coffee and muffins.

 

 

 

As we were heading out of the buffet, Sakari caught a glimpse of cinnamon roles and had to have some (the one's they make out of biscuits) and then after grabbing those, she noticed they brought out some more that were the "normal" type and soft and gooey. She had to have some of those as well. She's going to be in a sugar coma later I swear. 

 

 

 

 

She also had me grab a few "snacks" to take back to the room. Sakari is a boredom eater and likes to snack. I totally should have brought some snacks with us for her in the room but this will have to do I guess. 

 

[mitsugirly]

We headed back to the room after breakfast so that I could empty my purse of "snacks" and check the dailies to see what was going on around the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to hang out on the balcony for awhile. Sakari wanted to play some games so we broke out the new UNO game, with all the colors included this time around, and challenged each other to about 20 games...I promise, this is no exaggeration! She came up with some outlandish rules of "stacking" and was forcing me to draw so many cards...wait, where did you come up with this? It's not in the rules! She informed me this is THEIR rules and how they play it in school with her friends. Well, I'm not liking these so called rules that the instruction manual says nothing about. She told me to quit whining and play the game. With each game I yelled inside to the hubby "I won again" as she screamed "No she didn't...don't believe her!" ...even if I didn't win. 

 

 

We decided to move on to some Chess and Checkers as well. At this point, I'm showing NO MERCY! I won both of those games and paid her back for winning so many UNO games. That'll teach her!

 

Ok, time to head out for awhile. I gathered my PHONE (not the camera's) and we walked around taking pictures of different places (as best one can with over 4,000 passengers plus crew on board). I honestly used my iphone for almost every single picture I took on this cruise unless we were in port doing something that involved water. I'm thinking I have turned over a new leaf so to speak. It was so much easier to just carry it in my purse than carrying the camera's, batteries and my phone. It took up less room and the pictures still come out great (IMO). I also don't have to worry about coming back to the room each day to charge all the batteries for the camera's either. The only issue is, once I get home, I have to convert all of the phone pictures to jpeg in order to use them. Oh well, you win some you lose some. 

 

Our wandering legs took us up and down the floors and whaddaya know, we ended up back at the food. I mean don't you always when you're on a cruise?

 

I played it safe with a salad. 

 

 

 

I went for some NS sweets but noticed cheesecake, my favorite cake of all time, and I had to have some. It didn't quite taste like I had remembered it. My hubby makes an awesome NS cheesecake to die for and maybe I had just gotten used to his version that this really didn't hit the spot. 

 

 

 

There was some commotion at the pool area and we heard Tiera's voice and knew something was about to happen...Mr Sexy Legs. Sakari finds this hilarious to watch and it's always the "older guy" that puts on quite the show...and show they did. We had two guys in their 70's that entered and yes...one of them won.

 

 

 

 

During the "show"...and I use that term loosely, Sakari disappeared. Momma mode kicked in and started to panic. There were so many people around you couldn't see the other side...then I spotted her toward the end. She had ran over on the pool deck, right in front of the show and got a first row seat. She would later pop up in everyone's cabin on the tv as a star witness of what took place...and she was recording it. LOL

 

 

 

 

 

I totally see her as being one of the judges on the stage some day in the years to come...help me now. (Pictures taken from off the tv on video loop)

 

 

 

[graphicguy]

WOW...

 

Kim...great to see you mobile, again.  Even better to see one of your reviews.

 

And Sakari.....double WOW....your twin!

[mitsugirly]

I noticed the time...it was almost 2pm and you know what that means? It means it Thriller dance class time! Sakari had such a great time at this on our last cruise that I knew she would want to get in on it again. So off we went to the atrium to learn the Michael moves.

 

Miss Columbian was up there telling everyone to come up. Sakari says come on mom but my shyness kicked in and wanted to wait for others to join. I turned to her to tell her "Let's wait a minute" and she wasn't standing there anymore. She was the first one up on the stage and looking eager to get started. I noticed Sakari had lost her shirt somewhere but there was no time to go searching for it. Ugh, it wouldn't be the last thing she lost on this cruise.

 

 

More people came up and we had a blast learning the moves. I have to say, they were a little different than on the last ship.

 

 

 

The hubby would record us learning the dance and air dropped it to Sakari and she would watch it over and over...perfecting those moves and remembering each and every step. She was now prepared for the 80's party that was happening tonight!

 

After the class, Sakari spotted Starbucks and begged for a drink. I never really pay for the "extra's" on the ship and we had already paid for the soda package but felt really bad that there's not many choices for her on the ship and decided to break down and let her get one during this cruise. 

 

Now for some reason they don't allow anyone under the age of 18 to purchase Starbucks on the ship...although Starbucks at home could care less what the age is. They even had security to make sure you abide by the rules and they were ready to haul you away to cruise prison if needed. 

 

 

She stood in line and I gave her my ship card to try to make it less obvious. The hubby and I went to have a seat and I told her, if they say anything, just tell them it's for me. 

 

Once she made it up to the worker I heard those dreaded words come out of his mouth "How old are you?!?" She must have told them it was for me at that point because I seen him looking out at the tables and I politely waved at him and she had just effectively scored herself a drink. 

 

 

That cup of Starbucks set me back $8.10 on this cruise.

 

Off we went to explore some more and we ended up in the game room. Sakari challenged us to a game of air hockey. She won against both us and walked away gleaming. 

 

 

 

She was on a winning streak and now challenged me to some ping pong. We don't play "normal" ping pong, we make up our own rules and those rules are to keep the ball going...no matter what it takes. If it goes off the table and bounces on the floor, you better run to hit that ball back onto the table and keep it going. Ricochets off the ceiling or wall...hit that ball back to the player. We do pretty good at keeping it going...F-O-R-E-V-E-R! These acquired skills keep us laughing so hard that I sometimes cry. So much fun and definitely entertaining. 

 

 

 

Out of nowhere we see a guy in a boat. Like where did this person come from??? It was a small boat. Where they escaping Cuba? It was so weird. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

10 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

WOW...

 

Kim...great to see you mobile, again.  Even better to see one of your reviews.

 

And Sakari.....double WOW....your twin!

 

Thanks and yep, mobile again. I'm fine as long as I'm up and moving around...almost normal. It's when I sit down that getting back up is torturous and very painful. A few hops and limps and eventually it's back to normal walking again. I just gotta keep moving. Maybe one of these days I'll be pain free. An ankle replacement in my future is the only thing that will correct it at this point per my orthopedic surgeon. 

 

Sakari...I know. My mini-me. 😁

[justhappy]

So glad to see your family cruising again and that you’re sharing another great review!
 Loving all the photos. Your IPhone takes awesome photos.

Also appreciate the color and font you’re using, as it’s easier for me to read😃

[mitsugirly]

After 2 hours of ping pong, I kid you not, I was ready to give up. I'm pretty sure my shoulder was not liking its new usage of movements at this point so we headed back to the room for awhile. 

 

 

 

It was almost time for dinner and we had thought about going to one of the main dining rooms. However we noticed it was seafood night and they were having shrimp scampi at the buffet. It was a no brainer and we headed to the buffet to feast on shrimp.

 

 

It definitely didn't taste like Red Lobsters shrimp scampi but it would have to do. 

 

Sakari said she wasn't very hungry and THIS is what she decided to eat...#whattheheck!

 

 

A bowl of pickles??? That's your dinner? Are you serious? She loves shrimp but just wasn't feeling it tonight. But pickles? Geesh!

 

We ate early tonight (6pm) because in order to make everything work that we wanted to do tonight, this was our only option. 

 

We headed off to see Man of Choir for their 7:30pm show. I wasn't really sure if I was going to like this show but read others REALLY liked it. 

 

 

 

I have to say these guys are VERY talented! They play multiple instruments and their voices are amazing. I've been to a lot of NCL shows that the singers just weren't that great but these guys...all of them...were amazing! We were so happy we decided to go.

 

After the show we headed back to the room for a shower and to get ready for the 80's party tonight. One of our favorites of course. I really wished Kendra was with me because the last time we went to the 80's party together we all dressed up in 80's attire...hair and all, and had such a blast doing it. It has never been the same since. (Picture for proof and reference lol)

 

 

 

We headed up to the pool deck to get this party started!

 

 

 

A picture from off the tv on loop after the party caught me and the hubby dancing...

 

 

Then it was time to put our Thriller dance moves to the test...can you spot us?

 

 

 

 

 

We danced the night away to 80's music...well, at least until it was over, which was only 45 minutes worth BOO HISS! 

 

It was time to head back to the room and head to bed. Our first port day would be tomorrow and we weren't going to get much sleep at this point since we arrive there at 7am and it was now 12:15am. ZzzzZzz

[mitsugirly]

7 minutes ago, justhappy said:

So glad to see your family cruising again and that you’re sharing another great review!
 Loving all the photos. Your IPhone takes awesome photos.

Also appreciate the color and font you’re using, as it’s easier for me to read😃

 

Thank you. We are happy to be back as well. So many Cruise Next certificates to use up...we'll be cruising with NCL for awhile now in the future. 

 

I tried to pick a bold color that would be friendly on the eyes. 🙂 

[SenatorsFan]

Hi Kim, I'm so happy to see another review from you! I sailed Encore last Nov. and had a great time. I hope you did, too. 😀

[justhappy]

11 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

 

Thank you. We are happy to be back as well. So many Cruise Next certificates to use up...we'll be cruising with NCL for awhile now in the future. 

 

I tried to pick a bold color that would be friendly on the eyes. 🙂 

Take Sakari on the Alaska cruise! So very different from a Caribbean cruise but sooo awesome and usually very port intensive too!
The scenery is amazing.

[mitsugirly]

24 minutes ago, SenatorsFan said:

Hi Kim, I'm so happy to see another review from you! I sailed Encore last Nov. and had a great time. I hope you did, too. 😀

 

Thanks and we had a wonderful time. Any time away from home and the cold is a good time. 😄 

 

18 minutes ago, justhappy said:

Take Sakari on the Alaska cruise! So very different from a Caribbean cruise but sooo awesome and usually very port intensive too!
The scenery is amazing.

 

We watched some of the presentations of the places NCL cruises too and wow, we wanna go everywhere now! 😄 

[Jamman54]

You're off to a great start! Looking forward to following along once again! 😃

[mitsugirly]

TUESDAY DECEMBER 12TH: PUERTO PLATA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC  7am-4pm

 

 

 

 

 

Our first port and we were super excited...and I was super nervous on top of that and here's why...

 

We have been to DR a few times: We've went to Saona Island by boat, Starfish Sandbar and our last time was a buggy tour where we had an absolute blast! But...what should we do this time? We would be docking at Taino Bay, which was new for us and I wasn't quite sure of the geographical location compared to the other places we had docked before. I did see some pictures of this new port and knew I really wanted to spend some time there as well. Should we forgo an excursion and stay at the port? Or should we forgo the port and just do something new? Decisions... 🤔

 

I did a lot of research and something kept catching my eye...a trip to the waterfalls. I watched video's and found reviews and everyone seemed to love this excursion. However, I was nervous about it after reading just how much walking and climbing stairs and hills were involved. Would I even be able to do this? I really wasn't sure. Several reviews said they do offer to stop along the way to rest. Rest? Was it really that intensive? Should I even do this to myself? I'm used to a lot of walking at work and standing on my feet for 12 1/2 hours during the day...BUT, there's no climbing involved. Climbing throws a whole other curve ball into the equation. Although I've had my hardware removed and walk 6+ miles a day at work, I have a lot of difficulty with stairs. Going down, I have to walk on the ball of my foot because my ankle still does not bend forward and is limited. Going up is no problem...even though it wears me out, I can do it without difficulty: bone wise, not respiratory wise LOL

 

Then throw in the factor of sliding down a waterfall ROCK...what are the dangers involved? Could I possibly hit the side of the rock and jab my foot on something causing extreme pain or yet worse, refracture an already misaligned and unstable foot that is still healing? Then there's the factor of jumping from a platform 25' in the air. Would the impact of the water hurt my foot? 

 

So many questions spinning in my head about this entire situation. I showed Sakari the video's and she squealed with excitement..."We gotta do that mom! That looks like so much fun!" and that's all it took for me to overcome my emotions and doubts and knew I just had to try it!  Ok, we're doing this! I booked with Marysol Tours and more on that later.

 

We were up at 6am and it was still dark out. We were already pulling in and the city was all lit up and ready to take on the cruisers about to invade their island. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got dressed and raced up to the buffet for breakfast. We were in such a hurry I didn't even get a picture of the food...no picture, no proof I cheated right?

 

They made the announcement that we were able to get off the ship at 6:50am and we headed down. The sun was coming up and it was beautiful.

 

They did have these cute little 3 wheeled motorcycles to give you a free ride down the dock but for some reason I decided to walk instead. I think I should have conserved my energy for the day but wanted to get that ankle in motion so it wouldn't freeze up on me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did stop to take a picture with the photographers along the way as well. 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

32 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

You're off to a great start! Looking forward to following along once again! 😃

 

Hey, how ya doing Jamman! Glad to have you hear for the trip. 🙂 

[mitsugirly]

We headed down the dock and it really wasn't "that" bad of a walk...unlike some of the other ports that it seems like they never end. 

 

The sun continued to rise and I was very hopeful we would have a great day.

 

 

 

 

 

They had the port decorated in Christmas trees as you walk in. Just a reminder that even though you are in the heat with crystal blue water, it's still December. 

 

 

 

 

This port was absolutely gorgeous! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fethiyeden]

Just found your review & we’re already on day 3! Just binge read it all. Sorry you are still having trouble with your webpage.

Merry Christmas to you & all the family.