Is The Encore Transatlantic (11/2) a Cruise About "Nothing"?

[Two Wheels Only]

I expect to see lap records set on the track. No excuses other than bad weather.

[Newfun4me]

I would love to take this type of cruise!  I'm not a huge fan of the ports and really enjoy being on the ship.  🙂

 

[cementhands]

23 hours ago, need2cruisesoon said:

I'm thinking of a TA cruise this fall and looked at the Encore, I mean this is a cruise about nothing right?

9 days of nothing unless you live in London in the summer and NY in the winter and have an aversion to flying.

 

 

Date	Cruise Ports	Arrive	Depart
Sat, Nov 02, 2019	London (Southampton), England (EMBARK)	---	5:00 pm
Sun, Nov 03, 2019	At Sea	---	---
Mon, Nov 04, 2019	At Sea	---	---
Tue, Nov 05, 2019	At Sea	---	---
Wed, Nov 06, 2019	At Sea	---	---
Thu, Nov 07, 2019	At Sea	---	---
Fri, Nov 08, 2019	At Sea	---	---
Sat, Nov 09, 2019	At Sea	---	---
Sun, Nov 10, 2019	New York, New York	7:00 pm	Overnight
Mon, Nov 11, 2019	New York, New York (DISEMBARK)	8:00 am	---

We enjoyed our first transatlantic after weeks in Europe at Airbnb and local food and sightseeing on our own. Tons of walking. Trains to and from different countries. Wonderful trip. The beauty of a transatlantic cruise was perfect.

We enjoyed the loveliest fellow passengers from USA and Europe. The activities staff had us dancing and participating in many different activities.

I can’t wait to repeat.

Plus you gain an extra hour sleep every other morning.

Perfect. Going east like our grandparents on a big boat on the wide open ocean. Very cool.

[Cruise Mama]

8 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Not quite correct.........  The ship has to be delivered to the owner completed by the shipyard.

 

Most ships don't take on fresh provisions during a 7 day cruise, and even longer ones, they normally take provisions only at turn-around day, so even 10 or 14 day cruises will only pick up provisions at the start.  Unlike your refrigerator, where the fruits and vegetables hide in "crisper" bins where one grape going bad can cause everything else in the bin to start to go off quickly, the provisions folks have people assigned to go through all of the provisions, daily, and remove anything that is even starting to go off, so it does not contaminate the rest of the produce.  There is also better air circulation in the walk-in boxes, and ozone generators in the boxes that retard spoilage.

 

The SHIP will be complete - steel, engine room, exterior paint - but she will NOT be complete - the shipyard has very little to do with anything other than building the ship!  This is NOT “The” inaugural sailing - she’s a ship being shipped -  

just a repositioning - nothing special

 

And about provisions - have you never seen what is brought aboard at every port?  

Your statement that one bad grape can cause everything else to “go bad” - sounds like a movie plot 😂. 

 

and seriously - Ozone generators in a walk-in? 🤣 

 

 

 

[chengkp75]

47 minutes ago, Cruise Mama said:

 

The SHIP will be complete - steel, engine room, exterior paint - but she will NOT be complete - the shipyard has very little to do with anything other than building the ship!  This is NOT “The” inaugural sailing - she’s a ship being shipped -  

just a repositioning - nothing special

 

And about provisions - have you never seen what is brought aboard at every port?  

Your statement that one bad grape can cause everything else to “go bad” - sounds like a movie plot 😂. 

 

and seriously - Ozone generators in a walk-in? 🤣 

 

 

 

Oh, how little you know about ship building.  While it is true that the hotel accommodations are built by subcontractors, those subcontractors are contracted by the shipyard.  The shipyard owns the ship until it is "delivered" to the owner after sea trials and any further repairs.  The ship has to be completed for the owner to take possession.

 

Only on high end cruises will fresh provisions be brought on in ports of call, as this affects the cruise line's ability to control quality of their food supplies, and the consistency across the fleet.  And, having seen how a whole box of strawberries can go bad from just one turning, and the practice of "produce picking" daily being a common practice on every ship, I do know about how this happens.

 

And, you can laugh until you cry all you want, here is a commercial ozone generator used for various services, and food is one use;

https://www.oxidationtech.com/atl-100.html

 

and one specifically for fruits in a commercial refrigerator:

 

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Industrial-refrigerator-ozone-generator-for-fresh_60825741405.html

 

having worked for decades in the maritime industry, use of ozone generators is common practice on all types of ships, and since I worked for NCL at one time, I can say that they do install generators in all of the chill boxes to be used for produce.

[Deeliteful]

Have been on three or four transatlantics and absolutely loved them all. So relaxing but never boring.

Also had smooth sailings, one cruise the Captain described it as Lake Atlantic.

 

[Cruise Mama]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

........having worked for decades in the maritime industry.........since I worked for NCL at one time.....

 

Chengkp75 you are an absolute buzz kill!

 

There is a group of over 400 CC aficionados sailing on the Encore out of Southampton. Several are concerned about too many more people choosing this sailing - new ship repos are traditionally lower capacity - we were just trying to keep it that way. 

 

When was was your last cruise? - me thinks you need a dose of vitamin SEA!

[chengkp75]

3 minutes ago, Cruise Mama said:

 

Chengkp75 you are an absolute buzz kill!

 

There is a group of over 400 CC aficionados sailing on the Encore out of Southampton. Several are concerned about too many more people choosing this sailing - new ship repos are traditionally lower capacity - we were just trying to keep it that way. 

 

When was was your last cruise? - me thinks you need a dose of vitamin SEA!

I spend over 180 days a year at sea, and have for 44 years.  I get more "vitamin Sea" than most on CC.

[Outerdog]

26 minutes ago, Cruise Mama said:

 

Chengkp75 you are an absolute buzz kill!

 

There is a group of over 400 CC aficionados sailing on the Encore out of Southampton. Several are concerned about too many more people choosing this sailing - new ship repos are traditionally lower capacity - we were just trying to keep it that way. 

 

When was was your last cruise? - me thinks you need a dose of vitamin SEA!

 

Are you saying that you are intentionally trying to spread disinformation in an effort to dissuade people from taking "your" cruise?

 

I've seen it all now.

[aero777]

16 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

 

Are you saying that you are intentionally trying to spread disinformation in an effort to dissuade people from taking "your" cruise?

 

I've seen it all now.

 

No need. All cabins show sold out for now.

[Cruise Mama]

25 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

I've seen it all now.

 

Everything I posted is true. 

No spreading of “disinformation” at all - 

(there will be carpets and furniture making their way into cabins, the pool may not be filled or open due to weather or seas, there are no ports to take on provisions) what “wrong” information did I post?

 

btw - try to book the cruise right now and you will find the studio, inside, and oceanview cabins are SOLD OUT - if you want to call that “disinformation” by the cruise line - I guess I’m in good company. 

 

Enjoy life and every cruise - book any you want.  Book the Encore - I’ll buy you a drink!

 

 

 

 

No wonder CC is losing steam. 

[sparkmaster]

9 hours ago, AL3XCruise said:

I read this title and I can't help but think about Jerry and George making a pitch to NCL for a new itinerary. 

 

This is such an underrated post.

 

 

[tomservo]

On 8/28/2019 at 8:43 AM, chengkp75 said:

Most ships don't take on fresh provisions during a 7 day cruise, and even longer ones, they normally take provisions only at turn-around day, so even 10 or 14 day cruises will only pick up provisions at the start. 

 

So on a 14 day cruise, the food we're eating on day 14 is 14 days old? Do they freeze any of it, or is it whatever comes on board frozen stays frozen, fresh stays fresh, etc. What is typically frozen and what is typically fresh? From what you said it sounds like the produce is fresh. I know the seafood would have to be frozen, is all the meat frozen, or would they take on fresh meat for the first few days (or week or so) and frozen meat for the last few days of the cruise? Inquiring minds want to know! 🤓

[BrewPubby]

On 8/27/2019 at 7:30 PM, Son of a son of a ... said:

Probably the longest booze cruise in NCL history.  Cheers and bon voyage!!  I wish everyone a great cruise!

 

Nope. The Escape Inaugural Transatlantic was 10 nights with no port stops, so it was longer than this one. 

[spanishguy1970]

We love transatlantics, they are our favorite type of cruise however we would not consider a new maiden voyage ship. Everything that can go wrong would likely happen in a new ship so like a new phone we wait until is around a while so any hiccups can be fixed. IOHO

[chengkp75]

53 minutes ago, tomservo said:

 

So on a 14 day cruise, the food we're eating on day 14 is 14 days old? Do they freeze any of it, or is it whatever comes on board frozen stays frozen, fresh stays fresh, etc. What is typically frozen and what is typically fresh? From what you said it sounds like the produce is fresh. I know the seafood would have to be frozen, is all the meat frozen, or would they take on fresh meat for the first few days (or week or so) and frozen meat for the last few days of the cruise? Inquiring minds want to know! 🤓

By USPH requirements (I'm talking about cruises that homeport in the US), all proteins, with a very few limited exceptions, must come onboard frozen.  Those exceptions are things like shellfish in the shell, and certain types of fish (like salmon) that do not harbor parasites (like codworms) that are killed by freezing.  Produce is of course fresh.  Baked goods typically are made onboard, with the exception of hotdog and burger rolls, simply because of the inability to produce the consistent size and shape of these items, over the cost of bringing them on.

[KeithJenner]

1 hour ago, BrewPubby said:

 

Nope. The Escape Inaugural Transatlantic was 10 nights with no port stops, so it was longer than this one. 

On the last couple of nights of the Escape Transatlantic I was sitting at the bar at Howl at the Moon just looking at all the drinks thinking "what can I try now?". It did get a bit much in the end, although I actually boarded in Hamburg so it was 14 nights and I got off the ship for a total of about an hour in Southampton. 🙂

[bmwman]

On 8/28/2019 at 2:16 AM, SailBreakaway said:

Yup all about nothing. Keep moving nothing to see here! Its terrible, all that ship and those days, what will we do?!!!!! Just awful. 

 

Was there any value intended by this OP and this topic? 

Agreed - we were some that baled out but given a promotion including flight and Haven just seen we might re join at 25% of the original cost 🙂 

[Oceansaway17]

On 8/27/2019 at 9:46 PM, TheDougOut said:

Avoid this sailing at all costs.  It will not be good.  

 

 

But your posts will be. Tell us all about the laser area how much better it will be than the Spice H2O. Ha ha.

[Oceansaway17]

On 8/27/2019 at 9:16 PM, SailBreakaway said:

Yup all about nothing. Keep moving nothing to see here! Its terrible, all that ship and those days, what will we do?!!!!! Just awful. 

 

Was there any value intended by this OP and this topic? 

 

 

Yes, the Op was trying to generate comments about all the sea days and not just the ship.

 

[maggieq]

We did the very same cruise on the quantum minus one night and docking in Bayonne a few years ago. We had a great time and plan to do he same on the encore. Brand new cruise ship and line to us.  

[bmwman]

 It is far from sold out - but the new deals are generating a lot of bookings we are party of 5 families that have now re booked!! The current projected sailing numbers are around 3000 to 3,500 so  sorry cc members it will be busy.

 

Should be interesting with non of the dream team left apparently we are told that the opening team has changed due to crew shortages in the fleet - lets see.

 

Maybe they will bring Klaus out of the office and put him where he should be GM on a new ship best man for the job!

Edited August 31, 2019 by bmwman

[TheDougOut]

3 hours ago, bmwman said:

 It is far from sold out - but the new deals are generating a lot of bookings we are party of 5 families that have now re booked!! The current projected sailing numbers are around 3000 to 3,500 so  sorry cc members it will be busy.

 

“Busy?”  I think not.  We’ll sail with approximately 60-64% of rooms occupied, at around 50% of max capacity. 

Edited August 31, 2019 by TheDougOut

[bmwman]

I know like to think these innagural are something exclusive with all the build up on "everything Encore" but they are not. They are simply another revenue cruise to NCL (NCL love all the stuff its free advertising keep going please!) - if they are not they would take the ship to USA empty. Gives crew a chance to test and train so its cheaper but unless NCL have not released cabins they have already so over 70% of the cabins and the new UK deals have been VERY successful judging by what is now sold out. !  If you think there will only be 2,500 passengers you are going to be sadly very disappointed.

 

By way of example we have booked and a lo of people from our community are jumping on the ship at the current price

 

The price has dropped again today and speaking to NCL they agree it has been slow they have found the price point and its really selling from the UK - offering flights has "sorted it"..

 

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by bmwman

[TheDougOut]

17 minutes ago, bmwman said:

I know like to think these innagural are something exclusive with all the build up on "everything Encore" but they are not.

 

Who do you think views this sailing as “exclusive”?  A week ago the ship had inventory to accommodate another 2000+ guests, and anybody that wanted to book could have.  

 

For various reasons, many (most?) don’t view it as a favorable sailing.