Everything... Norwegian ENCORE! Launch Nov 2019

[La-Z-Guy]

16 minutes ago, bjtravelnews said:

We love cruising and are especially fond of the freestyle concept.  We have sailed on the Breakaway twice to Bermuda and more recently, on the Escape  (loved the Escape!!!).  I was going to book the Encore for Bermuda next year.  After looking through the threads and deck plans, I am having some second thoughts.  We cruise to enjoy the food, drinks, shows and relaxing places on the ships.  It seems the Encore is trying to attract families with adolescents and teens (thinking race track, laser tag and VR games).  Those things don't interest us much.  We can't afford Haven suites and really want to make sure there will be places to unwind, have a drink and read a book.   For those of you who are following the building of the Encore, do you think there will still be enough places to kick back and enjoy some quiet time?  Thanks to all!

 

We are booked for Dec. 8th. We are still excited to be on the encore.  I think you will still find plenty of places and time to relax.  Worse case, book now, and when the actual reviews come in in December, you can always change your plans. You should still have plenty of time to change cruises without a penalty.  My thoughts are , don’t fret over something that you can easily correct if you need to.

[Sand and Seas]

1 hour ago, La-Z-Guy said:

We are booked for Dec. 8th. We are still excited to be on the encore.  I think you will still find plenty of places and time to relax.  Worse case, book now, and when the actual reviews come in in December, you can always change your plans. You should still have plenty of time to change cruises without a penalty.  My thoughts are , don’t fret over something that you can easily correct if you need to.

The Observation Lounge on the Bliss was very quiet on our Caribbean cruise.  I'm sure the Encore's will have some great quiet places to relax (except when Glacier viewing in Alaska😉).

[UFMOM]

10 hours ago, bjtravelnews said:

We love cruising and are especially fond of the freestyle concept.  We have sailed on the Breakaway twice to Bermuda and more recently, on the Escape  (loved the Escape!!!).  I was going to book the Encore for Bermuda next year.  After looking through the threads and deck plans, I am having some second thoughts.  We cruise to enjoy the food, drinks, shows and relaxing places on the ships.  It seems the Encore is trying to attract families with adolescents and teens (thinking race track, laser tag and VR games).  Those things don't interest us much.  We can't afford Haven suites and really want to make sure there will be places to unwind, have a drink and read a book.   For those of you who are following the building of the Encore, do you think there will still be enough places to kick back and enjoy some quiet time?  Thanks to all!

 

 

We cruise for the same reasons you do. We were on the Bliss for a 2 week Panama Canal transit. There were plenty of places to relax, have a nice drink and read. We loved The Escape too, but Bliss had the added restaurants which we thoroughly enjoyed. The observation lounge was wonderful. I had no problems getting a great seat, except during  the actual transit when it was packed, but even then found decent seats. They also have a bar and a nice small buffet. So you will have a huge space with panoramic windows, comfy seats, a bar and snacks, all right there. Even with teenagers on board, I doubt that there will be much in the observation lounge to attract them. They will be off doing the activities that you don’t want to do.   It was our Bliss cruise that convinced us to book the Encore for our NYE cruise.

 

 

 

 

Mary Ann

[bkrickles1]

10 hours ago, bjtravelnews said:

We love cruising and are especially fond of the freestyle concept.  We have sailed on the Breakaway twice to Bermuda and more recently, on the Escape  (loved the Escape!!!).  I was going to book the Encore for Bermuda next year.  After looking through the threads and deck plans, I am having some second thoughts.  We cruise to enjoy the food, drinks, shows and relaxing places on the ships.  It seems the Encore is trying to attract families with adolescents and teens (thinking race track, laser tag and VR games).  Those things don't interest us much.  We can't afford Haven suites and really want to make sure there will be places to unwind, have a drink and read a book.   For those of you who are following the building of the Encore, do you think there will still be enough places to kick back and enjoy some quiet time?  Thanks to all!

 

As others have said, there will be plenty of spots to hang out and relax with a drink or whatever else you're fond of.

The Observation lounge is going to be just fabulous and having been on the Escape you know that the Waterfront is another terrific spot almost any time of the day.

I think where the problems might come about are on sea days up on the sun decks. I was ok with all the added attractions up there until it was pointed out that we were losing the area on deck 19 outside of Vibe. That was my go to area on the Escape last July and I think it will be sorely missed.

With that being said, I'm booked for January 2020 on the Encore and expect to have a great time as I always do.

[bjtravelnews]

Thank you everyone for your responses to my concerns!   I am going to book!

 

[Sand and Seas]

2 hours ago, bjtravelnews said:

Thank you everyone for your responses to my concerns!   I am going to book!

 

Another great thing about hanging out in the Observation Lounge is the light buffet set up.  It's nice to have a light salad or small sandwich in the afternoon.  If I go through the regular buffet I make bad choices and can't really enjoy my dinner reservation😉

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[Kingkonig]

We paid off our Feb. Encore cruise this past weekend!  We’re excited to sail on this ship - gonna give it a chance.  Hopefully the large observation deck will help offset the amount of pool deck space that was removed

[mattee]

Would there be any difference in these two fares?

[SailorMan20]

23 hours ago, Kingkonig said:

We paid off our Feb. Encore cruise this past weekend!  We’re excited to sail on this ship - gonna give it a chance.  Hopefully the large observation deck will help offset the amount of pool deck space that was removed

My cabin is on the observation deck 15. What can one do in that room? Just look at the ocean? lmao

[david_sobe]

Encore prices are going up again.  My Feb 2020 cruise went up 200 pp a few months ago.  Now its 400 pp which means my cruise is $800 more expensive than when I booked it just over a year ago.  When the ship launches I wonder how high the prices will go.

[david_sobe]

23 hours ago, Kingkonig said:

We paid off our Feb. Encore cruise this past weekend!  We’re excited to sail on this ship - gonna give it a chance.  Hopefully the large observation deck will help offset the amount of pool deck space that was removed

Congrats on paying off your cruise but I guess you don't care about potential price drops.  Its not wise to pay off your cruise so early in case there are price drops to get that price.  HOWEVER, being such a new ship, chances are there wont be price drops.  But it all depends on the cabin and availability.

[SailorMan20]

On 7/2/2019 at 7:38 AM, bkrickles1 said:

As others have said, there will be plenty of spots to hang out and relax with a drink or whatever else you're fond of.

The Observation lounge is going to be just fabulous and having been on the Escape you know that the Waterfront is another terrific spot almost any time of the day.

I think where the problems might come about are on sea days up on the sun decks. I was ok with all the added attractions up there until it was pointed out that we were losing the area on deck 19 outside of Vibe. That was my go to area on the Escape last July and I think it will be sorely missed.

With that being said, I'm booked for January 2020 on the Encore and expect to have a great time as I always do.

I thought a observation deck was to look out on the Ocean? My Cabin just a very short walk to the Observation area on Deck 15.

[rtkenmore]

29 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

Congrats on paying off your cruise but I guess you don't care about potential price drops.  Its not wise to pay off your cruise so early in case there are price drops to get that price.  HOWEVER, being such a new ship, chances are there wont be price drops.  But it all depends on the cabin and availability.

 

Doesn't matter of it’s paid off early or not, as long as it’s before final payment date, you can have a cruise repriced if the price drops...  Even if you are paid in full. 

Edited July 3, 2019 by rtkenmore

[david_sobe]

15 minutes ago, rtkenmore said:

 

Doesn't matter of it’s paid off early or not, as long as it’s before final payment date, you can have a cruise repriced if the price drops...  Even if you are paid in full. 

You are correct.  Hey its the holiday and my rum drink kicked in 🙂

[MechE31]

My cruise would be almost $1000 more for me to book now. Not because of the increase as much as the removal of 3/4th free as a perk. 

Edited July 4, 2019 by MechE31

[NCLGirl2013]

So who all is going on the Encore's first sailing? Anyone planning  on doing a detailed review?

[TheDougOut]

5 minutes ago, NCLGirl2013 said:

So who all is going on the Encore's first sailing? Anyone planning  on doing a detailed review?

 

The first sailing will be a 2-nighter industry cruise into Southampton.  

 

I’m on the transatlantic and will either do a “live-from” thread or simply document the ship as time allows. 

 

I think it'll be most interesting to see how the ship comes-alive once it hits the Caribbean itineraries.

[steamboats]

36 minutes ago, NCLGirl2013 said:

So who all is going on the Encore's first sailing? Anyone planning  on doing a detailed review?

 

The first sailing is invitation only from Bremerhaven to Southampton Oct 31st til Nov 2nd. The first revenue cruise is the TA starting Nov 2nd out of Southampton.

 

steamboats

[dpepper64]

Well you count me in on the "first" cruise out of Miami heading to the Caribbean.   We will be posting live if all goes well.

[CazV]

I'm on the 24th November sailing. I'll do a review from a solo perspective. Might do a live... Haven't done one before so no promises right now.

[NCLGirl2013]

Sweet! We are on the Dec 15th one so I'm curious  how the first ones go. 

[dpepper64]

Any idea when it hits the water for sea trials?

 

[Steff79]

at the german Meyer Werft page they wrote, the float out is planned for middle August and the Ems conveyance for end of september. and then starts the sea trials.

[CazV]

1 hour ago, TheDougOut said:

I’m on the transatlantic and will either do a “live-from” thread or simply document the ship as time allows. 

 

Hi Doug... I'm really hoping you'll do one of your live from posts. Always love following them, and have the added interest this time as I'm sailing so soon after the TA. 🙂 

[SailorMan20]

 I am gonna ignore all reviews via Youtube, Articles, on Here. Facebook, Twitter Etc. I wanna have a un bias mind going into My sailing on the Encore next year.

On 6/30/2019 at 6:14 AM, FreestyleNovice said:

 

Two noticable things in the photo; top left, the chimney in the yard's roof is where the funnel will be, the chimney allows Meyer to test/run ship's systems as soon as they connect the half complete funnel to the chimney.
The other are the large(r) balconies, bottom center just above the Waterfront in the indented part of the balconies, I think those are the special ones (rel. larger) within the B8 category and shouldn't be forgotten for those looking for the larger balconies and going for the forward M6's or aft balconies.

I see My deck in this picture. lol