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Post by tomandrobin on May 18, 2023 10:57:40 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! Thanks! I am assuming that you didn't get the room upgrade with your bid.
We have Cagney's booked and Onda. I am looking forward to "snacking" at The Local. I also plan on hitting the Whiskey Bar daily and the Brew House.
We have the Choir of man reserved and we are planning to see the Beatles show.
So many things to see and do.
We fly out Friday night for Seattle. We booked a Tasting Tour for Saturday morning at Pikes Peal Market. Then we have an early embarkation on Sunday.
I am going to post a mini trip report of our Cruise too. We have totally different excursions booked and are staying in a Haven Aft Cabin. Our port experiences will make it seem like two different cruises.
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Post by tomandrobin on May 18, 2023 11:00:18 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. I have read that embarkation is a hot mess, not limited to The Encore or the Alaska Cruises. Between their system and the people on the cruise.....hot mess.
We originally had a room booked at the Marriott across the street. But then we had to add an extra day and the hotel was booked up. We ended up booking the Westin, but its like 12 blocks away.
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Post by BWV Dreamin on May 18, 2023 11:08:27 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. I have read that embarkation is a hot mess, not limited to The Encore or the Alaska Cruises. Between their system and the people on the cruise.....hot mess.
We originally had a room booked at the Marriott across the street. But then we had to add an extra day and the hotel was booked up. We ended up booking the Westin, but its like 12 blocks away.
While standing in line, there were calls for passengers in the Haven. They will take you immediately. One great benefit! However, on Disembarkation day, Haven did not get priority over self assist. That is a major fail, and look into that when you board. We stayed in the Westin pre-cruise. Rooms were nice. Relish is very busy there. And the bar as well. |
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Post by annamaria on May 18, 2023 11:18:48 GMT -5
Thank you for taking the time and sharing your TR and great pictures!!!
We were booked and close to our June 2020 Princess Denali/land/cruise trip - we all know how that went. Not sure when we will get the desire to book Alaska again. (We did finally book Italy/it was the next big trip after Alaska).
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Post by BWV Dreamin on May 18, 2023 11:34:49 GMT -5
tomandrobin I would seriously look at that Onda menu. I grew up in an Italian family, and this menu is very unique, nothing traditional Italian about it. There are no table cloths, obstructed window views, very loud. We were very disappointed in that we were looking for something very upscale and it just didn’t feel it. Others on my Facebook group complained about Onda as well. I forgot to mention the time difference. From the east coast, we dealt with three hours behind in Seattle, but four hours behind in Alaska! Those first couple of days were pretty rough for us.
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Post by BWV Dreamin on May 18, 2023 11:38:36 GMT -5
Thank you for taking the time and sharing your TR and great pictures!!! We were booked and close to our June 2020 Princess Denali/land/cruise trip - we all know how that went. Not sure when we will get the desire to book Alaska again. (We did finally book Italy/it was the next big trip after Alaska). Having taken both of those trips ( sans Denali land tour) I would opt for Italy before Alaska. We did a Med cruise starting from Villefranche, Monaco, Livorno, Pisa and Florence, Naples, Rome, Amalfi Coast, Malta. We still talk about this cruise. And it was on the Disney Magic! |
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Post by annamaria on May 18, 2023 15:16:07 GMT -5
Thank you for taking the time and sharing your TR and great pictures!!! We were booked and close to our June 2020 Princess Denali/land/cruise trip - we all know how that went. Not sure when we will get the desire to book Alaska again. (We did finally book Italy/it was the next big trip after Alaska). Having taken both of those trips ( sans Denali land tour) I would opt for Italy before Alaska. We did a Med cruise starting from Villefranche, Monaco, Livorno, Pisa and Florence, Naples, Rome, Amalfi Coast, Malta. We still talk about this cruise. And it was on the Disney Magic! We cruised the 11 Night DCL Med cruise in 2007. One of the best cruises we have taken. (No Malta but we had Sardegna and Palermo/started and ended in Barcelona). Italy trip will be to visit my hometown, my husbands hometown (west coast of Sicily) and some other towns on the west and east coast of Sicily. (Taormina, etc.) |
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Post by Capt Kia on May 18, 2023 19:39:28 GMT -5
Great trip report Hope and general info. My family is booked for Alaska next July but we are doing Royal. Cant wait.
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Post by applegrcoug on May 18, 2023 21:50:06 GMT -5
Victoria, BC…… Our ship did not arrive to Canada until 8:00pm! All back on board by 11:30p so really a wasted port stop for an excursion. The next day was disembarkation day so we just hung out on the boat and packed. That isn't enough time to go to the Royal BC museum or get tea at the Empress. Frustrating indeed. |
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Post by DrMinnie on May 19, 2023 20:26:26 GMT -5
Would you cruise NCL again? What’s special about the club room?
Did you get the beverage package? I saw you said to ask for specific liquors, was it hard to get water if you didn’t have the bev package?
Thank you for sharing! I really want to go on an Alaskan cruise….
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Post by BWV Dreamin on May 20, 2023 5:53:27 GMT -5
Great trip report Hope and general info. My family is booked for Alaska next July but we are doing Royal. Cant wait. Thanks!! You will have a blast! |
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Post by BWV Dreamin on May 20, 2023 6:15:52 GMT -5
Would you cruise NCL again? What’s special about the club room? Did you get the beverage package? I saw you said to ask for specific liquors, was it hard to get water if you didn’t have the bev package? Thank you for sharing! I really want to go on an Alaskan cruise…. There are three major cruiselines that sail into Glacier Bay. Holland America, Princess and Norweigen. We wanted to choose an itinerary with Glacier Bay, and taking various things about each cruiseline into consideration, we chose Norweigen. This was our first NCL cruise, and had only Disney Cruiseline and Holland America to compare it to. Yes we are sailing NCL again, next year to Hawaii! We booked a land cruise tour with NCL ( 3 days ) pre-cruise and will be staying at the KoOlina Marriott ( next to Aulani) for 4 nights post cruise. We did get the free at sea promo with the regular premium drink package and booked a club balcony suite on the NCL Encore. We chose the club balcony suite because it is a larger room than the regular balcony with a very large bathroom. It wasn’t that much more to book the club balcony suite room rather than the regular balcony. With that room came 12 cartons of 33 oz. Flow water, a tray of cookies ,canapés and bottle of champagne. We were very happy with the room size and would definitely book it again. No drink package includes water. That is an extra cost, but you do get very large quantity of water per carton. There were some recent changes to the premium drink package vs the premium plus drink package. Some of the alcohol previously included with the premium got moved up to th plus package ( most notable my Grey Goose and Grand Marnier ). I chose the higher priced vodka for my drinks even though I wasn’t familiar with the brand, and I could tell the difference. If you don’t specify which alcohol you want in your drink they will pour you the cheapest. Another draw for us to sail the Encore is the newness of the ship, and the various activities they have on the ship. We never made it to the go carts, but that looked so fun. They have laser tag, and various games and activities for adults as well. Families will have a blast! It was not the itinerary for the outside pools, however. You also have the opportunity to bid for a better cabin. We bid for a Haven balcony room ( that was the next level up). Up until the day of checkin, our bid was still being entertained. But we did not up the bid, and I think someone did at the end and got the room. We also really liked the different age groups on the ship and no formal nights! |
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Post by TexasChick on May 20, 2023 21:22:10 GMT -5
This is all great information. Thanks for sharing. We're a little under 2 months from our sailing on the same ship and itinerary.  |
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Post by TexasChick on May 20, 2023 21:27:22 GMT -5
I have a question. What is the ice cream situation on the ship? Is there free ice cream? I am asking because that's a BIG deal to my kids and hubby.
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Post by BWV Dreamin on May 20, 2023 21:41:07 GMT -5
I have a question. What is the ice cream situation on the ship? Is there free ice cream? I am asking because that's a BIG deal to my kids and hubby. There is soft serve ice cream cones and there is scooped ice cream at the buffet. If you want any cookies, you have to ask the servers behind the dessert counters at the buffet. For some reason they are only giving them out upon request and will ask you how many you want  They have chocolate chip and white chocolate with Macadamia nuts. I asked for 4 at a time so I could take some back to the cabin. Crazy that they are hiding the cookies!! |
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They have chocolate chip and white chocolate with Macadamia nuts. I asked for 4 at a time so I could take some back to the cabin. Crazy that they are hiding the cookies!!