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@BirdTravels my wife had a very important question tonight over cocktails. “Do they have caviar on the ship, I’ve never had it?” Any insight you have is appreciated.

Any insight if she’ll be continuing with the ship into Alaska? We’re sailing in June, in general will staff on the ship now be the same staff then?

@BirdTravels, are you staying in the haven, or did you just snap pictures of the VIP area?

looks like the pressure of this question was too much!

If you switch places in cabin life, you switch places in real life... forever.

Yay! What do I win? Glad it all worked out.

there are 2 specialty dining options in the app/website. One is an upgrade the other is the package. Your 3rd will show that the upgrade is unavailable, but should have the option to purchase an SDP outright. As others said, if you can’t find this, call.

Since there are multiple cruise CEO’s on this panel: why is there not agreement on the best way to administer muster drills? If safety and or customer satisfaction is the priority, shouldn’t all lines be on the same page and sharing best practices? Can we get NCL to change course and reinstate e-muster?

Thank you and thanks for all of the information in this thread. I have read it throughly in preparation for our trip in the haven on the encore to Alaska in June. Very similarly, the trip to the American diner is at the request of others (my daughter) and rather than pay a la carte or 4 specialty dining credits, the embarkation lunch seems like a compromise I’m willing to make. We have a day at sea the following day, and I plan to dive into the haven restaurant for all three meals. I’m looking forward to leveraging all of the tips and tricks covered in this thread. Thanks again!

Thanks for this. But to help me understand, are you saying the Haven restaurant on the escape is larger than on the Encore, and because of this, the escape doesn't have to offer the complementary service in the American Diner? That makes total sense if that's the case. Interesting that sister ships are that different to impact operations in that way.

I just saw a video of a recent haven experience on the escape, and they mentioned that on embarkation day, they were offered lunch at any specialty dining location for 50% off. On all other Breakaway plus ship reviews of the haven, I've heard American Diner is offered as a complementary alternative to the haven restaurant. Given all of NCL's service cuts recently I can see them moving to a discount instead of complementary. This concerns me for my June cruse on the Encore. Can someone who's been in the Haven recently share their experience? Was it 50% off specialty for lunch, complementary American Diner or both? Thanks

I sent the following email to Wes Cort (wcort@ncl.com) Vice President of Food and Beverage. Who knows if it'll go anywhere, but it seems like an easy way to make many NCL customers happy. EDIT: I have no idea if that's his email address, but first initial, last name seems to work as a default with many companies. Subject: Hey Wes. Is there any way we can fix the wings? Hi Wes, I've been prepping for our first NCL cruise in June to Alaska on the encore. I'm a HUGE wing lover and am really bummed that the wings onboard get a HARD PASS from all reviews I've seen. Its seems like a QUICK WIN with little to no additional incurred cost to NCL. It sounds like the major issue is missing a second bake or broil to crisp the wings up and then some work on the sauces. Is there any way operations can be adjusted to turn wings into a home run? Here's an example of a review if you want your team to check it out. (linked to this thread) In a time where Food and Bev onboard are being cut and hit with supply chain issues, this seems like a real easy way to win some customer sentiment. Thanks for your consideration

You may not be us... but lurking on your posts our sensibilities are the same. To provide a bit more detail, my wife and I are the first 2 cruisers on our itinerary giving us the 2 free at sea credits each. We are travelling with our two children (12 & 14). We might book a "date night" using 2 of the 4 credits, but may cancel and opt for a more flexible use of our credits as we've heard on other posts like using 1 credit for 4 selections from food republic or using 1 credit to get a BBQ platter while listening to country music, etc. I explained this to my wife and her response was "why don't we get sushi rolls 4 times"? so that's where our head is. As a note on the dishes from speciality restaurants while in the haven. I saw a comment above about getting charged for them, but in other posts I have heard that requests are sometimes granted and not charged. So let's use this as a scenario: My wife loves duck breast and I'd love to get some escargot during the cruse. If we told our waiter at the haven in conversation "we'd love some duck breast and escargot if possible" do you think we'd be charged? Cruise well, G

Hi All, We're about to hit the 130 day mark for our cruise aboard the Encore. We're staying in the Haven and are trying to decide if we book specialty dining or not. Anecdotally, on this site, I've heard the haven food is better than many offerings at specialty dining and, if you ask nicely and the stars align, you may be able to get some items from the specialty dining restaurants served in the haven. With the "supply chain issues" and quality cutbacks, I'm leaning further to skipping specialty dining and sticking to the haven for meals. If we skip specialty dining, our plan is to use the credits at places like food republic and Q to grab some shareables on the fly or in our cabin. Am I wrong? Will we be missing out if we don't eat in Cagney, Le Bistro or Onda?

I assume so, I just wanted to get it out of the way prior to the cruise.

Tried the chat, no dice. Said I had to call. Had it done in 5 minutes. Easy peasy. Edit: And there was no child's soda package. Same price regardless of age.

This is on the website. Just checked the app and it’s the same on there too.

Hi All, I'm browsing the beverage packages in the explore & plan section. In the soda package, I'm given the option to add the package, for myself, my wife or our son who will be 14 at the time of cruising. I am not given the option to add it for our daughter who will be 12 at the time of cruising. I know there was talk of the kids package being removed or not being shown. Is there a way to pre-pay for this package prior to getting on the ship?

Hello Cruisers! I'm excited to be taking my family on the NCL Encore in June. A bucket list item we have is to take a helicopter to dog sled on a glacier. In reviewing the itinerary and available excursions, it looks like our wishes can be fulfilled at both the Juneau stop or the Skagway stop. Juneau has it's excursion on the Mendenhall Glacier and Skagway has theirs on the Denver Glacier. Does anyone know if there's a difference between the two? Choosing one, would also free up exploring and expeditions at the other. Which would you choose and why? Additional relevant information: The Encore is scheduled to be in Juneau from 2:30PM - 11:00PM and Skagway from 7:00AM - 8:15PM. Both helicopter rides and dog sled activities are of similar length. Thanks!

From what I understand, you can ask for items from anywhere. The pretzel bites and chicken wings from the local will be on my list. 🙂

Here's what is available on Profcruise for 2022 menus

HI All, I'm travelling with my wife and two kids on a 7 night. We've received 2 specialty dining credits via the free-at-sea promo. If we were to get the free-at-sea plus, could the additional 2 specialty dining credits be used to bring our kids to specialty dining on 2 nights? We'd rather have the opportunity to have all 4 of us do speciality dining 2 nights instead of just my wife and I having 4 nights of specialty dining. We're had already planned on getting the premium plus beverage package, which is why the free-at-sea plus may make sense. FYI, kids are 12 & 14 and wouldn't be eating off the kids menu. Thanks!