Grimix

This is a blow up of your Haven menu (bottom right corner.) you posted. I saw a post in a FB group about this, and was wondering if anyone else has heard about it. I believe it says 'Any additional lobster tail requested will incur a $25 charge'. Is this a new change? The other post said they were on the Bliss last week and were told about the change. Sorry if this was posted elsewhere, but I didn't see a thread on it... So no more surf and surf?

I got one in January. Had to be booked by end of January, and sail before end of '24. It wasn't tied to a specific ship, however. We were looking at a Mediterranean cruise, and decided to just book it. Saved our family about $1K on a cruise we were already planning on taking. Considering I've only booked 2 cruises with NCL, and sailed on both it wasn't from a canceled cruise, just a random coupon that showed up.

And I believe the cost has to be at least $1 more than your current booking? (You can't upgrade for less.)

Sorry for joining late! Just got a booking in so had to check out the boards! Yay, an encore live! We loved our trip last October, and it will be cool seeing what the ship is like on a warm weather cruise. If it makes a difference (and it probably doesn't) it was a difficult win for us too. We both won our halfs we were just luckier enough to win the last one. Was total team Detroit if we lost that game. Fun Fact (Not nautical) I was at the game and the Lions were better represented than the usual away game folks, but Journey (from the Bay Area, and I'm sure cruiseny4life would have loved them knowing his penchant for 80's music) played, and made the poor decision to play Don't Stop Believing. I know it's one of their bigger hits (if not their biggest), but they really should have avoided a song with the line "Born and raised in South Detroit" when the home team is playing a team from Detroit... Got some boos from the home crowd, and the Detroit fans singing... We finally managed to hit the Brew House on the next to last day of our cruise, and I'm sad we didn't go earlier! Guinness is a great pacer! Fewer calories and alcohol than most beers so you can drink it all day! It's good for you! Have a great cruise! Loved the Encore!

Sorry, cruise comes back Tuesday before Thanksgiving, but we will still be over there (not that they will celebrate it!) in Europe.

So we pulled the trigger on another Haven cruise (our 3rd). Thanksgiving Escape France/Spain 9-day. Before our last cruise we were planning on going non-Haven (going the NCL Credit card upgrade to 2 balcony cabins) because it was pretty port intensive, and the wife wanted to be able to enjoy the European food in the ports we visit. Ended up booking the Haven because after the way we were treated on our last 2 cruises she couldn't imagine not doing the Haven. The cost was actually less than an end-of season Alaska we took this last October. I had a 10% off coupon that expired today, so got an extra $1k off which was nice. While not everyone buys the once you go Haven mantra, she does. It is nice to have a reservation to look at on NCL again! We had considered just doing a land vacation, but with our 3 (relatively unhelpful teenagers) we don't relish having to pack and unpack several times during our stay. The wife and I can do that when the kids have flown the coop. Also, she feels better leaving them on the ship while we go out and eat at ports by ourselves (they don't like going out to eat, and what they eat is the kids menu, not adventurous at all) than in a hotel room.

There's always Turo for visiting the glacier (no permit issues with that!) That's what we did, and then you get to do it on your own time, and do whatever else you want, all for the same or less than the cost of the ship's excursion.

Once on the ship configure it with the same SSID and password as your home network and your devices should log onto it without you have to reconfigure them! (I've used it in hotels to get Alexa speakers to work as they can be a pain to reconfigure the network on...)

If you haven't done one of these things I don't think people realize how much time they actually take! I can't imagine doing one live. I think I would miss most of my vacation, and my wife would yell at me for being on my phone the whole time!

Thanks for the review! Love reliving ours we took a couple weeks earlier than yours! Just to let future cruisers know you don't have to take the bus into town. You can (and we did) walk about a mile into town. We had a great walk, but it wasn't raining. Now Skagaway they don't let you walk to the ship (even though it's a shorter walk) but I believe that is because of the rockslide they had last year and safety concerns...

Who cares how it holds up... It's a pretzel roll! Yum! 🙂

They definitely had Muesli at the buffet bar in the restaurant. My wife had it almost every morning (and loved it) on our October Alaska cruise. Not my thing thing though!

Personally I don't know of a battery powered one, but the one I have is powered by a USB plug. You could probably just run it off a battery you would normally use to charge a phone on the go (not wireless obviously) I haven't checked the current draw of the route so am unsure how long it would last... The router itself would fit in a pocket, about 2.5"x2.5"x1"

My eldest (autistic) is also named Jacob. We seem to have the same family set up. 3 kids, girl sandwiched between the boys (and they were distributed in the cabin as you had done!) My eldest pretty much lived on the Chicken fingers and fries for every meal except breakfast (He does french toast for that...) I agree, the ladder in that second room really makes the bathroom harder to use as the door keeps hitting the ladder, and you can't move it to the other side because it would hit the dresser. Luckily our daughter is a heavy sleeper so the room worked for us. The wife was easily able to sneak out in the morning without waking her.

Sounds like the light rail in San Jose...

That's why I got my wife the Philips 3200 LatteGo because my wife went into withdrawals after leaving the Encore at the beginning of the month (She likes cappuccinos) She says it tastes just as good as the ships'.... (It did break down one day on the cruise for us too!)

The beer selection elsewhere on the ship is quite dismal... Not a fan of the Goose Island IPA... We loved the district brewhouse! After 5-6 days of hard alcohol it was nice to switch back to beer! (We had tried going earlier in the cruise, but we showed up before opening time, and didn't make it back until near the end... Will change that next time!

For shows in the main theater I don't think you need to worry. Maybe it's the times we've cruise but the Haven reserved section is never full. For dining if you really want a time go for it. This last cruise we didn't do anything before getting on the ship. At embarkation we decided where and when we wanted to eat, gave the list to the concierge, and we got everything when we wanted within 30 minutes. Perhaps that is unusual.

So now the trip is over, and so is my report. I'll just tie up some last minute thoughts... We got home so late Sunday that the wife decided to just keep the kids home the next day from school. Unfortunately after the week off we completely forgot we were carpooling with one of the neighbors and forgot to let them know. They started calling us about 10 minutes after we normally pick them up. We slept right through that... Luckily they are great people, and their mom (another doctor in the neighborhood) said she kind of thought we weren't going to school that day. They forgave us even though we felt (and feel) really bad about that! The next day I had to work (the wife had it off.) but I took off early because I had to do a 2.5 hour each way trip to San Jose and my brother to pick up Toby our dog. He was absolutely thrilled to see me! We had just rescued him a couple months earlier, and he had been returned twice, so probably figured he was abandoned again... Overall we had a great cruise. I would say it's my favorite! The biggest changes from last year I noticed are the lack of Veuve (I think my wife did OK with the Prosecco, but didn't really drink it straight.) and the lack of bottles with dinner (which came as a surprise to me...) The service was still top notch in, and out of the Haven.. The entertainment was awesome (there was an extra Show on the Bliss, and only the one on Encore, but I like it better than both of the ones on the Bliss...) Luckily our embarkation was easy peasy this time! The food was he same. Some great some not-so-great. The wife really like what the Haven offered, it just isn't enough variety for her. Onda was the hilight of our dining experience, and I'd pick Skagway as my favorite port. Wow, I haven't done a week cruise for many years, but the difference between 5 and 7 days is amazing. I much prefer the 7 days! On the 5 days you feel like they're going to be kicking you off soon almost from the beginning. We didn't use the balcony for hours, but I was out there at least once a day, and definitely enjoyed having it. I don't think you can get a Haven room currently without one though. Our next unscheduled cruise is probably going to be a Mediterranean. I had saved the points on my NCL for possibly upgrading two ocean view rooms to balconies to save money instead of going in the Haven. After this cruise in the Haven my wife has decided she wouldn't be able to handle going back. So it looks like if it happens we'll be doing the Haven again. We debated because there are so many ports, and she wants to try the food ashore (especially in Italy) so wasn't sure we'd get our money's worth. Maybe we wouldn't, but priory tenders and on/off would be hard to give up! We're going to be looking for October/November next year and will probably put down a deposit (I still have cruise-nexts from our first cruise) If we decide to do a land instead we'll be able to get it back. Until then Bon Voyage everyone! We had a great cruise, and if you were ever thinking about an Alaskan cruise do it! Even with the shorter port times we had a great time!

Another story... not a good one! I think it was the night before Victoria. We were talking with some of our new friends at the Haven bar and they said their teenager had been in the buffet. There was a fight between an elderly individual and someone else about grabbing the last chicken wing. Apparently there were fists thrown and the old man fell and hit his head. They told us he had died, but we later found out he had been taken off at the port along with his wife and luggage. Apparently pretty serious. I'm not sure who started it, but really? You can't wait a couple minutes for more chicken wings? There's so much food on this boat you aren't going to go hungry... This is NCL, if you want to fight go to Carnival! (Tongue in cheek! I actually don't hate Carnival) Either way it solidified my distaste for the Buffet (although my wife did like the Indian food, and their noodle soup which they had a vegetarian option for. She actually brought a bowl with her once to the Haven restaurant where I could order a real meal. The hostess said that looks delicious! (Probably was thinking the butler better not see her carrying around food like that!) Every time we went to the buffet it seemed like a war zone. People jostling to get the food, and circling forever trying to find an empty table. We did go to the buffet for a late lunch on one of the port days. It was about half as empty as I've seen it any other time. We found a nice big table up near the front. There was a group of officers eating at one table, and behind us we later realized was some of the cast of Choir of Man which my kids were really excited about!

Don't tell her, but it might have been worth it just so I could watch the whole game at a great location! My wife was also ecstatic they had vegetarian chili, 'meat'balls and Mac & cheese. She loved all of them!

No! She doesn't have an account either. I'm pretty sure she would disapprove. I find I offend her especially when I have no intention of offending her. 🙂 She's come in a couple times while I've been typing this and I shut the laptop screen. She says you keep closing the lid like you have something to hide just like the kids. Oops!

As well make our way down to the store the Encore taunts us... By the time we get back to the store to pick up our bags we're a little after 3pm... Luckily they say 3pm for bag pickups but are open until 3:30pm. Probably for people like us. 🙂 This time I just request a standard Uber XL as we don't have quite as many pieces of luggage. Because most people have already boarded the Encore we get our Uber really quick and are headed to the airport. We were going to have several hours at the airport since our flight didn't leave until 7:30 or so. The wife was concerned about lounges. We have an Amex that gives the wife and I (no longer others) access to the centurion lounge, and some priority pass lounges (they can be hit or miss) and since we had been to an Alaskan lounge a couple years ago in SF on the way to Cabo she thought about buying access to the one in Seattle. I don't know if it's everywhere, but apparently Seattle doesn't sell day-passes to its lounges. The wife considered buying the yearly membership to the lounge. She got a discount with her credit card, and she figured we'd buy food/drinks at the airport and she wanted to use the lounge for a Hawaii trip she had planned for the upcoming year leaving from SF. I think she quoted me $500. It was a bit much for me, but I said why don't we check out what's available at the airport first... As we get to the airport we check-in and drop off our bags. Wow Seatac is confusing! We weren't sure what we were supposed to do at first, but found the Kiosks and got our bags dropped off. Going through security the TSA notices my outfit and says he disagrees with my team, but respects my bravery in wearing it here. He says he's going to SF in a week, and wasn't sure he'd wear his Seahawk colors there. I told him he should! This time my electronics bag didn't get flagged for extra security (like it did on the way out. I have a 50/50% of the bag getting extra scrutiny since it has a bunch of wires and batteries...) We walk by a couple lounges as we walk to our gate (The Alaskan lounge is right by the security exit). I can tell my wife has her heart set on the Alaska lounge and the other lounges aren't going to cut it. I would rather not spend the money, but the wife has her own 'allowance' (I allow her anything she really wants... She would take umberance with me saying allow, but that just means I don't put up much of a fight, and lose sooner rather than later...) so that's what we do. The lounge is nice. I'm a little worried it will be filled with Seahawk fans and we'll get dirty looks. The lounge is two stories. We go up to the second story where the bar is located, and they have a bunch of more seating around the corner. My fears were assuaged a little as one of the staff members saw my outfit and said 'Go Niners!' She said she was switching jobs later (We were the Sunday night game, and it was just after 4 now...) so she could be up by the (only!?) tv in the bar. She was originally from the Bay Area but had moved to Seattle. We sat down in the seating are (which is around the corner from the bar) and it had no TV. I set up my laptop and was getting ready to watch the game on it using YouTube TV (We cut the cord a couple years ago, so now we can easily get our TV on the go!) as the bar was full. The wife brought back a beer for me while I was doing this and then she went to examine the offerings. They have one of those freestyle coke machines. Unfortunately it was out of ice. I made a cherry-coke zero because I was pretty thirsty, but without ice it wasn't as satisfying! They eventually filled it up a half hour later. My wife is addicted to Diet Coke, so she had actually gone to the bar to get a glass of ice before getting hers! A couple of the passengers told me go Niners so I started feeling these might be good people! As game time approached the bar cleared out. Apparently people had flights. I wasn't particularly happy about our departure time because I figured it would put us right around the 3rd quarter. I had hoped the game would be on on the plane. Because I thought Alaska did have some TV channels on their entertainment sections. (Spoiler alert: They do, but it's just shows, and not live TV!) Either way I sit down and I'm drinking beer, while the wife is doing wine. The bar starts filling up again as the game gets going (I think it had about 8 seats.) We're watching the game and luckily it seems we're all niners fans. It was a good game for the niner fans. 🙂 If you are a cowboy fan, it might not have been so good. Our flight time is approaching and even though we had a comfortable lead I didn't really want to leave. I've seen us blow worse leads. I check our flight status. Delayed. I've never been so happy for a delayed flight! Turned out the delay was about an hour, just enough time for me to finish the game! They don't accept tips here. Which is nice since I'm not a big tipping fan (I'd rather not do it, but I do it because it's expected and a lot of these people are overworked, and underpaid (especially on the ship where they're gone from their families for months at a time...) We get on the plane, and an hour and a half later our vacation is pretty much over as we deplane in Sacramento. I still have to catch the shuttle now to the economy parking while the wife grabs the suitcases and waits with the kids. (Just our division of labor at airports... sometimes I win, sometimes she does!) As I get to the shuttle curb I see the shuttle just leaving. I must have waited about 15 minutes for the next shuttle to arrive! They're usually much quicker than this. This next shuttle arrives and parks in a slightly different spot from where the line was forming. (Me right near the front) They open the back doors and tell us near the front (which happened to be the front of the now rather long line) to wait for the people in the back. We were concerned they might fill the bus before we could get on again! The lady behind me tells the driver that we were at the front of the line. The driver says these shuttles are first come first served. To which she says we were first! He didn't care. Luckily we were able to squeeze on (and I don't think the driver got lots of tips...) The shuttle ride was much longer than my normal walk to the car (which is why I usually choose the daily lot even though it's a couple bucks extra a day...) because the bus stops every 20 feet or so. Eventually we get to my stop (which I remembered because I always take a picture of where I parked at an airport) and I get the car and head to the terminal to pick up the family. Finally I get there. Tetris the luggage into the back, and we make it home just after midnight. Our vacation officially over...

We wake up a little surely about being kicked off in a few hours. We can see we're already docked. Nothing to do now but finish collecting our belongings, have a breakfast and take the sad walk off the gang plank. I had wanted to finish the packing so we could get out of the room, but the eldest son didn't want to go to as sit down breakfast, and since someone was going to be in the room the rest of us headed to the Haven restaurant for our last meal. I notice all our luggage has disappeared so this is really happening... I'm not a breakfast guy, but I think the breakfasts in the Haven might have been my favorite meal there. (I did really enjoy the scallopini with chicken I had for lunch once though!) I pass out the final tips as we head back to the room. This time I forgo the envelopes (didn't bring any, didn't feel like asking at the concierge desk although I'm sure they would have provided them!). Here's the breakdown for the curious (Maybe I paid too much, maybe not enough, but it I what I paid!): $10-$20/day in the Haven bar. Didn't pay per drink and let them know I don't like to pay per drink. Over paying $1-$2 a drink sometimes I won, sometimes they did. Gave an extra $10 per meal. (We weren't doing 3 meals a day, usually 2...) $160 for the Butler, $100 for the room steward, final $100 to bar staff (total not per person), $60 to the Haven Maitre-D (forgot to tip her last cruise...) and a $100 to the concierge. We go back to the cabin to finalize packing and collect our things, and eldest son. I think this was 9:30 or so. We head down to the concierge desk where Lyster meets us and escorts our family to the elevator. As we're heading down the elevator man tells our kids how lucky they are to have their parents take them on such a nice cruise. I'm not sure my kids believed him, but they should have! We walk down the gangway and back to our normal lives... So sad! In the terminal we breeze right through, no waiting. When we get to the baggage claim the lady asked what color we said gold, and she pointed us right to where our luggage was waiting. Unfortunately we had 4 more bags than intended, but when divided them up (me getting the lions share) and exited the terminal. I asked an NCL staffer where the place was we could store our luggage, and she said it's the ship staff store just out the door and to the right. We find the location easy enough. They will only hold your bags until 3, and charge $5 a bag. So my mistake cost me an extra $20. Oh well. It won't break me, and it's not worth ruining what's left of the vacation. But as wife's do she does make sure I don't forget I screwed up several other times that day. 🙂 There were about 2 groups in front of us, but we get our bags stored and get the receipt and head back up the hill towards the Pike's Market and the Space Needle where the MPOP museum is located. The MPOP has a unique architecture, and not a lot of straight lines... I think this is what my daughter has been waiting for the whole trip (who cares about beautiful Alaskan scenery?!) She talks non-stop about what they have as we make our way to the entrance. We get in, and then find out the exhibit that she wanted to go to this museum for (The Laika studio exhibit) was an uncharge. So of course we ended up paying it. Lets see if I remember... They're the studio that did Coraline, Kubo and the 2-strings, Boxtrolls, Paranorman, and Missing Link? If you don't know, they do stop-motion animation, and they had many of the props and puppets they used to film the movies. My daughter was in heaven! The house for Coraline. They had several interactive stations where you could do some of your own animations. At the end you get a QR code where you can download the movie you made. They claim this is the largest stop-motion puppet ever made (I think it's from Kubo and the 2-strings, but you'd have to ask my daughter to be sure...) Outside of the Laika exhibit (which I think isn't permanent...) they had a sound lab where you could play drums, guitars, keyboards, sing, do sound engineering etc. We were told the museum was initially created by Paul Allen as a Jimi Hendrix museum, but has morphed through the years to popular culture. They also have a Nirvana exhibit, Jimi Hendrix (still), Hip-Hop for musical exhibits. Each contains items from the band and tours. Downstairs they have movie genre exhibits with lots of props from the movies: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror. It was a great place to spend a couple hours. We start heading back down the hill with plans for a bite to eat, and a stop at Pike's Market before collecting our luggage and heading to the airport. This is Sunday, and the 49ers were playing the Cowboys in what was supposed to be the biggest game of the week, and the most important game for the 49ers this season. So of course our family was sporting our 49ers colors walking around in enemy territory (Seahawks) We stop at a local pizza place called Zeke's that my wife thought looked cute. I had to joke that they might want to hide us since we're 49ers fan. (Better joke about the rivalry then you're less likely to get extra ingredients in your food!) They laugh and say people won't be able to see us through the windows. We get a booth. At this place you do all your ordering through a website they have a QR code on the table. It actually worked quite well. We ordered a pizza and drinks. The drinks came pretty quickly and the pizza a little after. (I did a 4-beer sampler, and they had a good selection of local brews!) The other reason the app worked well is that when my wife was ready for a second she just went to the app and added a drink and sure enough a minute or two later there's her drink! The pizza was actually quite good! I'd recommend this place if you find yourself around the space needle and like pizza. On the way down the hill we stop at Pike's Market first. The daughter collects what my dad called do-nothings. Things you put on a shelf and collect dust. But hey, she has her own allowance she can spend it on that stuff if she wants to! They shop for about an hour while the boys and I find a nice curb to sit on and wait. They come back and the wife has done some shopping herself. Yay! More stuff to carry!

Thank you! It lets me relive the cruise, and when I read it in a couple years it will remind me of it! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend an Alaska cruise. Might have started as a bucket list cruise, but I don't think I want it to be a one and done!