Encore Observation lounge to be redone like the Joy?

[asctony]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

The OL on Prima is smaller because the ship is a lot smaller with 25% fewer passengers. 

 

[david_sobe]

1 hour ago, gknep said:

I was kind of up set by this, but then I thought about it and I'll take the smaller Observation Lounge if it gets rid of the laser tag and adds a spice H20. 

That ain't gonna happen.  Everything added is to increase income.  Fee based activities wont go away.  I remember when NCL ripped up the Spinnaker lounges and what was left over looked like a fire sale.  But NCL stopped doing it to their Jewel class ships. It was supposed to be all of them.  Is not the Encore already sailing at maximum capacity.  They really need 20 more passengers this bad?

[2ofusrdy4cruisin]

16 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Oh no! This is not good news.

 

Well, maybe it’s good news for rich people who book the Haven.

But the cabins added are not Haven cabins,  but BA Mid-Ship Balcony cabins. 

[hallux]

1 hour ago, david_sobe said:

That ain't gonna happen.

I think there have already been some reports that the laser tag is going away in favor of Spice on Encore.  I'd expect it to disappear from Bliss as well, to be replaced with more Vibe space (which matches your assertion AND the work that was done on the Joy, to make the Vibe on all 3 ships very similar).  In fact, I'd tend to believe it if Encore loses laser tag as if she doesn't lose it and Bliss does it would leave Encore as the only BA+ ship with LT and NO Spice.

 

Sure, some variety from ship to ship is appreciated, and there's still some, but was LT really THAT popular?

[david_sobe]

5 minutes ago, hallux said:

I think there have already been some reports that the laser tag is going away in favor of Spice on Encore.  I'd expect it to disappear from Bliss as well, to be replaced with more Vibe space (which matches your assertion AND the work that was done on the Joy, to make the Vibe on all 3 ships very similar).  In fact, I'd tend to believe it if Encore loses laser tag as if she doesn't lose it and Bliss does it would leave Encore as the only BA+ ship with LT and NO Spice.

 

Sure, some variety from ship to ship is appreciated, and there's still some, but was LT really THAT popular?

That would be interesting.

[gknep]

37 minutes ago, hallux said:

 

Sure, some variety from ship to ship is appreciated, and there's still some, but was LT really THAT popular?

I can tell you from experience that on Glacier Bay day during multiple Alaskan Cruises the Laser Tag area was nearly empty and I got some great views and pictures from it. 

 

[timf2001]

Putting Laser Tag in place of Spice H20 on Encore was a mistake from the start.  I'm glad they are fixing that mistake.

[YVRteacher]

16 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

I don't see it as good news for Haven guests. It's probably more of a feeling of indifference. 

Yeah, I misunderstood and assumed the cabins would be Haven cabins. I was wrong.

[YVRteacher]

10 hours ago, 2ofusrdy4cruisin said:

But the cabins added are not Haven cabins,  but BA Mid-Ship Balcony cabins. 

I know. I made a mistake.

[dexddd]

18 hours ago, yakcruiser said:

 

The Spinnaker lounges on the Jewel class will be next.

Who knows.  Dawn and Star got converted 2010-2011.  I'd thought they would have done so by now as basically same setup as Dawn Class so they'd have the plans.

[dexddd]

While our Prima TA was mostly on the cold and wet side, race track and areas around it empty most of the time.  Plus older demo.

[Sand and Seas]

This will definitely make a difference on Alaskan or other cold weather cruises.  Will they add more seating with so many wanting to spend time there?  

 

On our recent ten day southern Caribbean Encore cruise, we maybe visited the Observation Lounge on two or three days.  Lots of space available on those days.

[footer6]

Just off the Joy, which just had the OL size reduced by the addition of new cabins.  The ship was full (double occupancy), plus 1200 kids on school break.The OL was one of our favorite spots, and even at full capacity, it wasn't too crowded.  This was a Bermuda cruise.  The OL breakfast was uncrowded till the last 2 sea days, when every dining location was swamped. It's the first time there was a long wait, complete with vibrating beepers, even for breakfast in Savor and Taste.  The last night, the wait for dinner was one hour.  Advice to anyone going in the Summer - make specialty dining reservations for the last 2 nights.     

[david_sobe]

I did not open the thread awhile back about the Joy's dry dock because I had no interest. I was watching a video last night of all the changes and I was pretty impressed.  The Joy had pretty much no spa at all and now it has the largest spa at sea beating the Epic.  They converted the gaming complex into the spa.  They showed the observation lounge and you would have swore it was not reduced.  It still looked a good size.  Then they expanded the DOS in the Haven and removed the top part of the Horizon lounge.  Originally that area was a Haven casino when it was in the Asian market.  The DOS has 3 bedrooms now and some bedroom windows look down into the Horizon lounge.  I dont think anyone would miss that area since it rarely was used.  I can definitely see these changes coming for Encore.  Laser Tag took up the most valuable deck space on a cruise ship.  So these changes make sense IMHO.

However its sad the Joy could not get a "real" spa.  I suppose they could not put in a thermal pool.  While the square space is huge and they have countless loungers there is only one small hot tub and a 1 person cold dunk pool.  The saunas are normal sized though.  I just feel that cheats the purpose of the spa.  A very large thermal pool with additional hot tubs like on the other ships.  So that is the only downer I see.

[hallux]

17 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

It still looked a good size.

It's still 1/6+ of a deck, it's still a good size but on days where it would have previously been difficult to find a seat it will now be damn near impossible!

[AlexandNessa]

I'm more interested if Encore or Bliss will follow Joy's suit to make the H2 Deluxe Owner's Suites into 3 BRs instead of 2, sacrificing the Haven Library. I'm guessing no?

[BSR]

15 minutes ago, AlexandNessa said:

I'm more interested if Encore or Bliss will follow Joy's suit to make the H2 Deluxe Owner's Suites into 3 BRs instead of 2, sacrificing the Haven Library. I'm guessing no?

The haven library will be removed to make it a 3 bedroom suite.

[Kortehgehn]

On 4/24/2024 at 6:03 PM, david_sobe said:

some bedroom windows look down into the Horizon lounge

Just an FYI, those new windows aren't from the bedroom; they look into the new dining room of the H2 DOS staterooms. I was a bit surprised that they didn't seem to have room-darkening type curtains that I could see, and as a result, there did not seem to be much privacy from those in the Horizon lounge.

[BirdTravels]

On 4/23/2024 at 2:18 PM, asctony said:

 

 

We have already established that the Joy has a lot lower passenger count because of the excessive number of suites onboard (originally designed to cater to the Asian market) and the need to add more rooms to get her revenue up. So the Joy only holds 23% more passengers. 

 

More like the Escape: 4266 versus Prima 3099

Or Encore 3998 versus Prima 3099

Or Bliss 4002

Or Epic 4100

Or Getaway 3963

Or Breakaway 3963

 

But you constantly see "this is smaller on the Prima" or "that is smaller on the Viva". Ah,,, Yeah,,, the ship is smaller.