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Post by BWV Dreamin on May 17, 2023 17:56:02 GMT -5
So here is some great things about NCL…
There was no wait at any of the bars or main dining rooms. Our club balcony suite room was very big, it was a pleasant surprise! Everyone on board was courteous and well behaved considering one could literally drink all day, and lots did!
Except for the specialty dining, the food was fantastic. So much so we are going to opt out of the specialty dining on our next Hawaii NCL cruise.
We had a great cabin steward. Used the free laundry bag service ( one of our room perks) and got our laundry back that same day!
The cruise director is sooooo funny!!! She hosted a few game shows and I am still crying thinking about them.
Lots of dance parties ( no we didn’t go to them). There were a lot of activities.
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Post by BWV Dreamin on May 17, 2023 18:06:00 GMT -5
Tips…….
Unless you are in the Haven, you will not have an in room coffee maker. We asked our cabin steward for one on the first day, and he told us they were only putting them in rooms upon request. Well, I requested, and it was a fantastic perk. He filled up the coffee pods, creamers and sugars every day along with clean cups. This allowed us to have leisurely mornings before stepping out for breakfast.
Ask for a bed foam topper. Our bed was actually a king size, with two beds that were pushed together to form the single king. You could feel the center gap, and that foam took care of that. Very comfortable beds.
Go to the Manhattan MDR dining room for dinner. It is only open for dinner, and we found the waitstaff to be superb here. The dining room also seemed to feel a step up in ambience.
When at the bar, ask for two drinks at a time. They will not give you more than two at a time. Also, ask for the higher priced alcohol listed in the category for your drink. If you simply ask for a rum and Coke, they will give you the cheapest quality available. Instead, for example, ask for your drink like “ A rum and Coke please with Captain Morgan rum”. You will taste the difference if you don’t ask for the higher quality alcohol.
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Post by BWV Dreamin on May 17, 2023 18:18:31 GMT -5
Chaos…….
Disembarkation for both excursions and the final day. For what ever reason, they could not get this process down. People missed thier excursions because they couldn’t find the signage for their bus. Many different excursions left at the same time, causing people overflow in the halls and stairwells. NCL needs to look at Disney’s process. Major fail.
Lastly, disembarkation day from the ship was a major cluster. According to your flight time, you were assigned a certain colored tag. You were to depart during your assigned tag color time. Problem was everyone started lining up to depart at 6:00am despite what time you were assigned. People trying to cut in line. Stairwells roped off forcing people to use the elevator for their luggage along with the same people wanting to go to dining room to eat breakfast. On top of that, Port Valet was canceled on the day of embarkation so people had to find other transfer alternatives which just compounded the problem.
Looking forward to our Hawaiian NCL cruise next year. We will be staying pre and post cruise in Honolulu so we won’t have to stress over disembarking next time.
For those cruising on the Encore soon, let me know if you have any questions!
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Post by tomandrobin on May 17, 2023 20:19:42 GMT -5
Thanks for posting. What were the specialty restaurants that failed? Did you see the comedian show or the Beatles show? Did you try the Local or any of the sweet shops? Best bar/lounge?
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Post by Brian5581 on May 17, 2023 21:33:19 GMT -5
Nice pictures! Thanks for sharing,
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Post by BWV Dreamin on May 17, 2023 21:38:28 GMT -5
Thanks Brian  |
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Post by BWV Dreamin on May 17, 2023 21:47:33 GMT -5
Our favorite bars were the District Brew House, the Observation lounge bar, the A-List bar, the Local bar, and the bar in the Atrium. We never made it to the Whiskey Bar, but that was on our list.
Onda was the one specialty restaurant that was just plane awful. Atmosphere, waitstaff, food and menu. Los Lobos was a close second. Teppanyaki was the best of the three, but the meat was a little tough. The chain Japanese Steakhouse is better IMO.
I would try Cagney’s Steak House and Ocean Blue if I could do it over again.
We loved the Local! Sea days are tough, but otherwise never a wait.
We didn’t see the comedian. We saw all but one of the Beatles shows. Loved the show in the Cavern Club, they were so close. They were really really good.
Never ate at Coco’s but the offerings looked great!
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Post by jawfish on May 17, 2023 23:52:10 GMT -5
Great TR and pics!
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Post by amdev on May 18, 2023 6:36:29 GMT -5
Thanks for posting all of this info! We're sailing this same itinerary in August. Did you book your Glacier excursion through NCL? We are planning to do the whale watch/glacier excursion but I'm using Alaska Shore Excursions instead of NCL. Major cost savings.
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Post by amdev on May 18, 2023 6:38:17 GMT -5
Our favorite bars were the District Brew House, the Observation lounge bar, the A-List bar, the Local bar, and the bar in the Atrium. We never made it to the Whiskey Bar, but that was on our list. Onda was the one specialty restaurant that was just plane awful. Atmosphere, waitstaff, food and menu. Los Lobos was a close second. Teppanyaki was the best of the three, but the meat was a little tough. The chain Japanese Steakhouse is better IMO. I would try Cagney’s Steak House and Ocean Blue if I could do it over again. We loved the Local! Sea days are tough, but otherwise never a wait. We didn’t see the comedian. We saw all but one of the Beatles shows. Loved the show in the Cavern Club, they were so close. They were really really good. Never ate at Coco’s but the offerings looked great! I may have to rethink our dinner at Los Lobos. That is one we have booked along with the BBQ place. Glad to hear good things about the main dining areas. |
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Post by melk on May 18, 2023 6:39:32 GMT -5
Thank you for the trip report, looks beautiful! An Alaskan cruise has been on our radar for a few years now. This motivated me to look back into it.
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Post by BWV Dreamin on May 18, 2023 7:15:09 GMT -5
Yes booked the Mendenhall Glacier Explorer through NCL. For both of our excursions, I used the $50 towards excursion promo credit which brought the cost down. Both excursions were not very expensive, although some, like the Skagway train ride, were $200 a person or more.
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Post by BWV Dreamin on May 18, 2023 7:24:39 GMT -5
Also forgot to add we asked our cabin steward to have a fresh ice bucket every evening. There is no where to get ice, and this really came in handy. One of the perks for booking a club balcony room is that we got 12 cartons of 33 oz Flow water. Nice to have that ice water!
FYI, you can get cans of soda with the drink package, but you have to have the “ plus” package for that.
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Post by amdev on May 18, 2023 7:54:47 GMT -5
Another question, how was Embarkation? I see varying reports on how long it took to board. Some say it was easy and no issues, others say they waited for hours to get on board. We'd rather not be standing around in the cruise terminal for 2-3 hours if we don't have to.
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Post by BWV Dreamin on May 18, 2023 8:40:02 GMT -5
Embarkation…. Everyone stands in the same line whether you are getting transfers from a hotel or just John Q. Public. The line runs outside adjacent to the terminal and can span a couple of blocks. People start gathering in line hours before embarkation starts. The line did move fairly quickly, but still plan on at least 30-45 minutes in line
What I would do differently is get one night pre cruise at a hotel right across the street from the terminal. Then you could simply walk over and get in line. We stayed one night pre-cruise with NCL preferred hotel, and our transfers did not drop us off until 11:00am.
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