Post by amdev on Aug 25, 2023 13:35:26 GMT -5
Earlier this month we sailed on the Norwegian Encore from Seattle to AK. I wanted to provide a brief review of our experience.
Our travel party was myself, DH, DS (14), and mother/father in-law. Our rooms were on deck 12 Aft and next to each other but not connecting.
I will start by saying this cruise exceeded our expectations. We have sailed previously on DCL and looked to go to AK on DCL but at literally twice the cost, we thought we'd give NCL a try, and we were not disappointed.
We sailed out on Sun 8/6 but coming form the east coast, we flew out to SEA on Friday 8/4. We were not taking any chances on a flight cancellation! We used Friday and Sat to explore SEA. Sunday, our check-in time was 10:00-10:30 and we made it through very quickly. They started letting people on board about 11:30 and we were some of the first to get on due to MIL needing extra time. We did our muster drill, ate lunch at The Local and then explored the ship, signed DS up for the teen kids club, and then to our rooms.
The itinerary for Monday was a sea day; Tuesday - Juneau; Wednesday - Skagway; Thursday - Glacier Bay; Friday - Ketchikan; Sat - Victoria. We did do port adventures in Juneau and Skagway but booked them independently and not through NCL. In Juneau we went to Mendenhall Glacier and a whale watch and in Skagway we went to a Musher's Camp. Both were excellent adventures and highly recommend. There really wasn't enough time in Ketchikan or Victoria to do anything other than get off the ship and walk around a bit. The park rangers they brought on board for sailing through Glacier Bay were so knowledgeable and a great addition to the day.
A few take-away's from our experience. 1). The stateroom was nice, but small. Since they no longer do turn-down service, DS's bed was a bed the whole time instead of a couch during the day and a bed at night. And the closet is at the foot of the couch/bed and is hard to access due to the configuration. 2). The teen kid's club, Entourage, closes for several hours each day. For example, on our sea day they were closed from 1:00-4:00 in the afternoon but there was really nothing else for them to do except go to the video arcade or the VR pavilion. It was too cold to swim and there is not a dedicated movie theatre. So this was just odd to us. DS was so used to DCL and being able to pop in and out of there all hours of the day. 3). Pre pay the gratuities. We did this and paid $16/person/day. My in-laws did not and paid $20/person/day. 4). The go-karts are fun and hard to get but we were able to get on by just standing in line one day and waited maybe 15-20 mins. 5). The ship is beautiful and the food was fantastic (but Disney desserts are better
).
We would absolutely sail NCL again and we would absolutely go to AK again. It was so beautiful! No pictures or videos do it justice. If you've thought about going, all I can say is you have to go! You don't want to miss it.
Our travel party was myself, DH, DS (14), and mother/father in-law. Our rooms were on deck 12 Aft and next to each other but not connecting.
I will start by saying this cruise exceeded our expectations. We have sailed previously on DCL and looked to go to AK on DCL but at literally twice the cost, we thought we'd give NCL a try, and we were not disappointed.
We sailed out on Sun 8/6 but coming form the east coast, we flew out to SEA on Friday 8/4. We were not taking any chances on a flight cancellation! We used Friday and Sat to explore SEA. Sunday, our check-in time was 10:00-10:30 and we made it through very quickly. They started letting people on board about 11:30 and we were some of the first to get on due to MIL needing extra time. We did our muster drill, ate lunch at The Local and then explored the ship, signed DS up for the teen kids club, and then to our rooms.
The itinerary for Monday was a sea day; Tuesday - Juneau; Wednesday - Skagway; Thursday - Glacier Bay; Friday - Ketchikan; Sat - Victoria. We did do port adventures in Juneau and Skagway but booked them independently and not through NCL. In Juneau we went to Mendenhall Glacier and a whale watch and in Skagway we went to a Musher's Camp. Both were excellent adventures and highly recommend. There really wasn't enough time in Ketchikan or Victoria to do anything other than get off the ship and walk around a bit. The park rangers they brought on board for sailing through Glacier Bay were so knowledgeable and a great addition to the day.
A few take-away's from our experience. 1). The stateroom was nice, but small. Since they no longer do turn-down service, DS's bed was a bed the whole time instead of a couch during the day and a bed at night. And the closet is at the foot of the couch/bed and is hard to access due to the configuration. 2). The teen kid's club, Entourage, closes for several hours each day. For example, on our sea day they were closed from 1:00-4:00 in the afternoon but there was really nothing else for them to do except go to the video arcade or the VR pavilion. It was too cold to swim and there is not a dedicated movie theatre. So this was just odd to us. DS was so used to DCL and being able to pop in and out of there all hours of the day. 3). Pre pay the gratuities. We did this and paid $16/person/day. My in-laws did not and paid $20/person/day. 4). The go-karts are fun and hard to get but we were able to get on by just standing in line one day and waited maybe 15-20 mins. 5). The ship is beautiful and the food was fantastic (but Disney desserts are better
).We would absolutely sail NCL again and we would absolutely go to AK again. It was so beautiful! No pictures or videos do it justice. If you've thought about going, all I can say is you have to go! You don't want to miss it.
