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Everything... Norwegian ENCORE! Launch Nov 2019

TheDougOut

By TheDougOut,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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fallujahkid

fallujahkid

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, tomservo said:

As an aside, there is a lot of mis-marketing in the food world. Think “Kobe” beef burgers in the US years ago (up until a certain point they definitely weren’t) or “super premium” ice cream (not an official grade or type of ice cream). It’s just marketing speak made to appear higher quality than it actually is. “Premium Black Angus” essentially just means beef (it’s the most common type sold for steaks) . This is not an indication of USDA grade (Choice, Prime, etc), however being CAB guarantees a minimum grade, ranging from high choice to prime. 

“Super Premium” may be a gaudy marketing term for ice cream but you can use metrics like butterfat content and overrun to gauge quality.  Cheap supermarket ice cream half gallon squares are 10% butterfat at 100% overrun (the amount of air pumped into the product).  Quality ice cream would be 14% butterfat with overrun only at 30%.  Other factors, such as suppliers being held to a high standard, matter as a well.

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tomservo

tomservo

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, fallujahkid said:

“Super Premium” may be a gaudy marketing term for ice cream but you can use metrics like butterfat content and overrun to gauge quality.  Cheap supermarket ice cream half gallon squares are 10% butterfat at 100% overrun (the amount of air pumped into the product).  Quality ice cream would be 14% butterfat with overrun only at 30%.  Other factors, such as suppliers being held to a high standard, matter as a well.

 

I agree, there are ways to quantify the quality of some aspects ice cream production with those metrics, while others are harder to quantify (quality of the milk/cream, of the chocolate and vanilla, etc). My point is that NCL along with many others are purposefully misleading consumers by calling their steaks something that sounds like Certified Angus Beef (which again guarantees a higher minimum quality) without it actually being CAB. There are examples of this everywhere, like champagne and sparkling wine. Parmesan, San Marzano tomatoes, truffle oil, and Kobe beef are more examples of food lies. In many of these cases they’re not just misleading but out-right lying, since they don’t call it Parmesan-style cheese, or Kobe-style beef. Although I’m starting to see more like that, so maybe things are starting to change. 

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tomservo

tomservo

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

I'm still wondering when melted cheese became "melty cheese"....

 

Melty is the tip of the iceberg.  I hate menu item descriptions that are so wordy and verbose to the point of being nonsense.

 

“Enjoy a handcrafted burger with cool crisp lettuce, expertly sliced farm fresh tomatoes, ooey gooey melty cheese, layered atop a freshly flame broiled 100% Premium Black Angus beef patty, gently cradled in between 2 soft, pillowy, baked to perfection buns lightly kissed by a delicate sprinkling of savory sesame seeds”

 

Also known as a Whopper.  

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tomservo

tomservo

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Don't get your hopes up. Over the past year, we have almost given up on Cagney's because of very poor service and marginal food. 

 

And now that they’re charging real restaurant prices for food, people are going to have real restaurants expectations for their meal. People will absolutely start sending steaks back that are cold, tough and gristly. Maybe (hopefully?) this is their attempt to reboot Cagney’s into a new and improved restaurant on the Encore. 

 

Due to reviews and comments on here about Cagney’s, I haven’t actually eaten there. I’d rather take my chances on almost any other restaurant than risk losing an SDP credit there.  

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sparkmaster

sparkmaster

Posted
Posted

As painful as it is for me to say, I have given up on Cagney's as well. My first experience with them in 2015 on the Getaway was fantastic, but the quality and service has been on a steady downward track since then. At this point I'd rather go to the main dining room. At least my food will be hot.

 

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shof515 "Live from...." Rare

shof515

Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, Joeghartman said:

 

The one on the Bliss really impressed me and this one looks like a ton of fun!

 

i want to try to the race track on my September 2020 Encore cruise but i do not want to get stuck with a group that drives slow, like golf cart slow. i want a real go kart speed

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PelicanBill

PelicanBill

Posted
Posted

Welp. As a 4 times Breakaway customer I had been looking forward to trying Escape for something a little different... but then thought, hey, Encore will be in NYC soon...  Have digested about 30 pages of this thread and I guess I have to take a pass also.

- I can live with losing Spice H2O, but not at the awful cost of 1/4 of top deck space available to general passengers

- The upselling of NCL is driving me insane, and now 3/4 of the top deck space is for premium cost and specialty activities. No good.

 

I recently sailed Anthem of the Seas and that ship has top deck space figured out well. With enough pools and family and adult space.  Oh well.

 

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Barker16

Barker16

Posted
Posted

Those pictures are really making me worried. I should have studied this more before booking, not enough pool  space for the size of this ship. Lets hope I'm wrong , but 3 days at sea.... I don't really want to have to pay for Vibe just to get a chair.

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Peachypooh Great Review Rare

Peachypooh

Posted
Posted (edited)

When we sailed RCCL  Liberty of the Seas the deck space and pools were amazing. So much room and the ability to accommodate lots of people in the pools. That said.....NCL had better food and suites and friendlier crew

on all of our sailings.At least comparing it to that one ship. I guess nothing is ever 100%. I am worried about the pool deck but will probably find lots of other things to compensate.

Edited by Peachypooh
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tallnthensome

tallnthensome

Posted
Posted

I've had the Encore booked since last new years for 2021 and got my balcony with three promos for my family of four for $500 less than an inside with one perk when they had the online pricing error for a day .......... and I'm still going to cancel. I have no interest, no matter what the savings, of having a pool deck that has room for like 60 people by the looks on a ship of 4000+. No thanks..... Did the Escape, Bliss for 15 , and cancelling the Encore and doing the Joy for 12 days instead. This new ship offers nothing new to be excited over and not worth the cost of the hype .... money grab to the extreme .... I'll pass.  

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smplybcause

smplybcause

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

I've had the Encore booked since last new years for 2021 and got my balcony with three promos for my family of four for $500 less than an inside with one perk when they had the online pricing error for a day .......... and I'm still going to cancel. I have no interest, no matter what the savings, of having a pool deck that has room for like 60 people by the looks on a ship of 4000+. No thanks..... Did the Escape, Bliss for 15 , and cancelling the Encore and doing the Joy for 12 days instead. This new ship offers nothing new to be excited over and not worth the cost of the hype .... money grab to the extreme .... I'll pass.  

 

I agree. I didn't go in the pool much on other away classes because of the water features in spice, but I'm just having a hard time looking at encore and thinking it'd be fun on a sea day. 

 

I might end up on it if prices end up dropping if there's bad reviews, but it'd have to be cheap compared to the sister ships. I'm bummed because even though I was underwhelmed with the racetrack, I really loved Bliss when I was on it and was hopeful for encore. 

 

I'm intrigued to see what happens. 

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Victorious8

Victorious8

Posted
Posted
18 hours ago, BruinsFan08 said:

Thanks for doing  this! I'm sailing in steerage class, so I can max out at 19...

 

I am also in steerage class but Victorious is my name and I will not let something like being a non Haven guest stop me from getting into the Haven bar 😉

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imlulu

imlulu

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, smplybcause said:

 

I agree. I didn't go in the pool much on other away classes because of the water features in spice, but I'm just having a hard time looking at encore and thinking it'd be fun on a sea day. 

 

I might end up on it if prices end up dropping if there's bad reviews, but it'd have to be cheap compared to the sister ships. I'm bummed because even though I was underwhelmed with the racetrack, I really loved Bliss when I was on it and was hopeful for encore. 

 

I'm intrigued to see what happens. 

This will be  our first time on NCL. If I had not booked early flight out of MIA and Cats with a western itinerary wasn’t on Oasis for the week, I would have changed ships due to all the negative posts on the NCL board. I paid final payment yesterday and am going into it glass half full. Looking forward to time away and trying something new. 🙂

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bkrickles1

bkrickles1

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, imlulu said:

This will be  our first time on NCL. If I had not booked early flight out of MIA and Cats with a western itinerary wasn’t on Oasis for the week, I would have changed ships due to all the negative posts on the NCL board. I paid final payment yesterday and am going into it glass half full. Looking forward to time away and trying something new. 🙂

I am also sailing Encore in Jan. 2020 and while I don't love what I'm reading about the free space on the upper decks, I am still super excited to sail Encore on one of it's first dozen sailings.

My family loves to be out and about on sea days and I know space will be limited, but I'm going to use the info here to plan accordingly. I'm certain, that with proper planning, we will be able to find some space somewhere to relax, enjoy the sun and have a few cocktails.

When Encore begins it's Caribbean run, there will be plenty of threads here telling us what's really going on and then you can figure out how you want to approach it.

We've already planned our excursions for St. Thomas and Tortola and we'll be heading out early and getting back on board early. This will allow us to have some much less crowded time in the areas we enjoy.

I'm also hopeful to successfully bid for an upgrade from a balcony cabin to a spa balcony and that will give us some other options during the day when the decks up top are at their busiest.

We are pretty experienced and pretty flexible so I know we'll have a great time and won't let anything take away from that.

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bkrickles1

bkrickles1

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Son of a son of a ... said:

 

Code for getting up at 5 AM and putting towels on chairs 😉 ... just kidding ... sort of.

Since you brought it up, I'll add on.

Sailed Escape in July, 2018. I like to go to the gym every morning at 5:45, so I'd finish up at around 7am, head up to Margaritaville to grab a cup of coffee and then find a few lounge chairs for me and my girls on deck 17 overlooking the pool deck.

At this time there would already be many chairs reserved around the pool area on deck 16, but nothing up by where I chose.

I'd leisurely drink my coffee and when I finished, I'd leave towels and my backpack on the chairs for me and my girls and go back to my cabin to shower and change into a bathing suit. I'd be gone maybe 30 minutes (well within the 1 hour rule) and return to enjoy my time up on deck while my girls are getting ready to join me. I love hanging out in a whirlpool around 8:30 in the morning, while it's still quiet and getting myself ready for my first bloody mary at around 10. It's a rough life, but I'm up for the challenge!

While this is technically "chairhogging", I'm comfortable with what I do as I never leave chairs and my stuff unattended for more than an hour, so it's not much different than me leaving my stuff while I spend 30 minutes in a whirlpool or getting a drink at the bar. I'm sure I will utilize a similar strategy for my Encore sailing in January. 

It is amusing how many people come up as early as 6am to reserve chairs and then not come back until 10am or so. It's pretty ballsy and I've only rarely seen ncl people remove stuff after an hour. 

 

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