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Everything... Norwegian ENCORE! Launch Nov 2019

TheDougOut

By TheDougOut,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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FreestyleNovice

FreestyleNovice

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, rtkenmore said:

 

This may be a dumb question... But what ship is that in the background?

 

No dumb question at all! What Steff said, Royal's first Quantum Ultra class ship; Spectrum of the Seas. The successor of the Quantum class, bigger and better. Same for Breakaway and Breakaway Plus class with NCL, with Encore being the last of her class. Both classes were all built by Meyer Werft, Germany.

Here's an early comparison of Spectrum's aft versus the current Quantum class aft: https://scontent-ams3-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/092bc99ab2d470efb669746c8b68752a/5C47F888/t51.2885-15/e35/42360388_242962496375712_4456255929160582352_n.jpg

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rtkenmore

rtkenmore

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, FreestyleNovice said:

 

No dumb question at all! What Steff said, Royal's first Quantum Ultra class ship; Spectrum of the Seas. The successor of the Quantum class, bigger and better. Same for Breakaway and Breakaway Plus class with NCL, with Encore being the last of her class. Both classes were all built by Meyer Werft, Germany.

Here's an early comparison of Spectrum's aft versus the current Quantum class aft: https://scontent-ams3-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/092bc99ab2d470efb669746c8b68752a/5C47F888/t51.2885-15/e35/42360388_242962496375712_4456255929160582352_n.jpg

 

Interesting thing that Spectrum is going to be based in the Asia Pacific region when other cruise lines are pulling out their ships (or at least their mega ships).  I wonder if Spectrum will spend a year or so and then come back to the US in the same manner as NCL Joy is doing.

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FreestyleNovice

FreestyleNovice

Posted
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6 minutes ago, rtkenmore said:

 

Interesting thing that Spectrum is going to be based in the Asia Pacific region when other cruise lines are pulling out their ships (or at least their mega ships).  I wonder if Spectrum will spend a year or so and then come back to the US in the same manner as NCL Joy is doing.

 

Bringing back Joy to the US market is a 50 million USD investment/refit for NCL, on a ship priced at somewhere in the 950-1050 million range in her first years that's a few more months or maybe a year before she breaks even on the investment. I've read that some ships break even after a short 4 or 5 years but not really sure if that applied to the mega ships with all the bells and whistles.

Royal never tailored a ship as extreme as NCL did with the Joy (with a 2nd language as main, larger casino, etc) right? So any future repositioning, wherever to, would be more easier.

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rtkenmore

rtkenmore

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, FreestyleNovice said:

 

Bringing back Joy to the US market is a 50 million USD investment/refit for NCL, on a ship priced at somewhere in the 950-1050 million range in her first years that's a few more months or maybe a year before she breaks even on the investment. I've read that some ships break even after a short 4 or 5 years but not really sure if that applied to the mega ships with all the bells and whistles.

Royal never tailored a ship as extreme as NCL did with the Joy (with a 2nd language as main, larger casino, etc) right? So any future repositioning, wherever to, would be more easier.

From what I just read, Spectrum is being built for Asia specific cruising...  Not sure to what extent that involved tailoring it to the Chinese market.. But it makes it sounds similar to what NCL did with Joy.  It's sailing year round from Hong Kong and Shanghai.  Multiple articles suggest it is designed very specifically for the market.  :classic_unsure:

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FreestyleNovice

FreestyleNovice

Posted
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50 minutes ago, rtkenmore said:

From what I just read, Spectrum is being built for Asia specific cruising...  Not sure to what extent that involved tailoring it to the Chinese market.. But it makes it sounds similar to what NCL did with Joy.  It's sailing year round from Hong Kong and Shanghai.  Multiple articles suggest it is designed very specifically for the market.  :classic_unsure:

 

See how unfamiliar I am with RCCL.. heheh!

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rtkenmore

rtkenmore

Posted
Posted
Just now, FreestyleNovice said:

 

See how unfamiliar I am with RCCL.. heheh!

 

No worries.  I didn't know it until I started googling today.  They already have a ship that is based partially in Asia/China region and goes to Australia part of the year.  And now they are adding a full-time mega-ship...  I just think this may be a big issue for them with other lines pulling out.

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timf2001

timf2001

Posted
Posted

Royal Caribbean is not adding capacity to China.  They are switching from having Quantum full-time and Ovation part-time to having Spectrum full-time and Quantum part-time.  The biggest change they made for Spectrum was creating a dedicated suite area at the front of the ship, thus freeing up the aft of the ship for standard balcony cabins.  The big difference between RCI and NCL is the China sailings are sold internationally and not just within China, although they do cater the sailings towards Chinese tastes.

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yatemde

yatemde

Posted
Posted
On 9/21/2018 at 9:05 PM, taylortime05 said:

We were just off Bliss 9/15 and my friend who was also on Escape said Bliss spa was smaller and not as nice as on the Escape. Hope this helps.



Yes, thank you. I was looking to book a cruise in summer of 2020 so I went for the Encore. We were on our 1st NCL cruise in Nov 2017 on Escape and won bid for Aft Haven. We had access to the SPA area. The Haven and the SPA were so nice. So we booked a 2 bedroom Haven on Encore but the prices in 2020 seem very high. So a little disappointed if the SPA area is not as nice as the escape. But 2020 is a long way off and we'll get trip reports before my final payment.

 I got off the Bliss just over a week ago and I loved the thermal suite. However, I have not been on Escape, my previous experience with thermal suites are on NCL Star. I'm looking forward to being on NCL Encore.

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yatemde

yatemde

Posted
Posted
On 9/30/2018 at 10:49 AM, BirdTravels said:

The thermal suite on the Bliss (now located aft to make way for the observation lounge) is smaller than other -away class ship (bad). While the Escape made improvements to move the saunas to the outside with windows (which would have been ideal for Alaska) the saunas have moved back to the interior and are smaller.

The changing rooms are about the same size. Don’t recall loungers in the Escape changing rooms.

So,,, the important fact is that the Bliss has a lot fewer passengers than the Escape. Hence a smaller Thermal Suite.

My big gripe is that they moved the Thermal Suite aft. But they forgot to move the Spa rooms aft (they are still up near the forward elevator lobby). So you have to traverse the ship to get to the spa. The “selling point” of spa rooms was that they were right near the spa,,,, not. This same “error” was repeated on the Encore. We have a spa mini booked on the Encore, at the opposite side of the ship from the spa.

Escape - April 2018
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=55846143&postcount=52
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=55846157&postcount=53

Bliss - June 2018
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=56234643&postcount=190

My Spa balcony for Vancouver - Los Angeles was towards aft right around the corner from the stairs going up to Deck 16 and the fitness center/spa, loved it! There is a relaxation room with additional drinks there just before going into the thermal suite.

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