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Encore / Live / Solo(*)- Dec 1-8-2019...

sid_9169

By sid_9169,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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wallaceralphl

wallaceralphl

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1 hour ago, grandmarnnurse said:

I was quite disappointed when I sailed on NCL to find that they do not give complimentary lobster in MDRs. Missed that, and very pleased that Carnival still offers that. 

But didn't Sid report on the free seafood crab nd lobster at the complimentary buffet on Tuesday night? (by the way, Local or Garden Cafe?)

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wallaceralphl

wallaceralphl

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1 hour ago, CazV said:

I finally had time to binge read your post today... loved every minute of it! I had an awesome time the week before you and still need to make some time to write my own review. I definitely made the right choice not to attempt a live... I don't have the patience for it lol 

I hope you feel better soon... I was suffering with cruise crud for about a week after I got home. 

Re that dive bar Marilyn's in San Juan... I did a Cocktail Walking Tour booked through a local tour company and that was our final bar. 

 

But how does the bar compare with some Glaswegian's on the West side? 😉 I actually like Deacon Brodies on the Royal Mile....

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Sadebud

Sadebud

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I'm a lurker.  I thoroughly enjoyed your adventures.  This is the first one of your's that I have read.  I will be binging your others soon!!  Great style and comments!  Hope you are feeling better...that cruise crud SUCKS!!

 

 

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grandmarnnurse

grandmarnnurse

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32 minutes ago, wallaceralphl said:

But didn't Sid report on the free seafood crab nd lobster at the complimentary buffet on Tuesday night? (by the way, Local or Garden Cafe?)

Yes, he did, but I was referring to the MDRs. When I sailed the Getaway, they did not offer any lobster in MDR. As much as I did love NCL’s buffet, we never eat dinner in the buffet. 

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moosecrouse

moosecrouse

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1 hour ago, sid_9169 said:

There's a $19 upcharge over and above the dining package for the surf and turf... $5 upcharge for the crab cake or the tiger shrimp cocktail...

That sucks was just on Escape in January and a purchased the dining package and there was no upcharge for the surf & turf with lobster tail. If I used my platinum freebie I would've had to pay

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Prnsessmoi

Prnsessmoi

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Longtime lurker.  I had a question, but didn't want to ask it until I finished reading all the way through, just in case it had been asked before.  You had the Premium Plus Bev Pkg, and went to Starbucks several times.  Were the Starbucks drinks covered under the upgraded package?

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sid_9169 "Live from...." Rare

sid_9169

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1 hour ago, Prnsessmoi said:

Longtime lurker.  I had a question, but didn't want to ask it until I finished reading all the way through, just in case it had been asked before.  You had the Premium Plus Bev Pkg, and went to Starbucks several times.  Were the Starbucks drinks covered under the upgraded package?

Yes, the Starbucks was totally included in the premium plus package...

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grandmarnnurse

grandmarnnurse

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Sid—you are hopefully over the cruise crud by now, but for next time, at the FIRST sign of it, take zinc lozenges. I take a generic form, but I believe a brand name may be Zicam. It definitely shortens the cold symptoms. I also increase my vitamin C intake from 500 to 1000mg. Although vitamin C is water soluble and out of the body fast, a blast of a higher dose DOES in fact help with immunity. Take care and get better so we can follow you on another cruise! I leave on my Glory cruise in 50 days, but am in NOLA for 3 days prior. Sorry, no drink package for this old gal, as my alcohol tolerance since a concussion 4 years ago is pretty poor. I may have 3-4 cocktails through a whole day, with several hours and water between each one. Not very exciting—LOL! But the cruise will be a Super Bowl Cruise on February 2, so I’m expecting it to be a fun party crowd. 

Edited by grandmarnnurse
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sid_9169 "Live from...." Rare

sid_9169

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Sorry that it;s taken me almost an entire week to get back here and give my final conclusions on the Encore... I had to actually go to work a couple of hours after landing back in Atlanta, then on Monday morning, it was right back to my full time job... On top of that, I ended up coming down with the cruise crud on Monday, and it's just starting to clear up now... The Encore is a beautiful ship, with all of NCL's "All-Star" crew, from the room stewards and bartenders, all the way up to the General Manager... (Don't even get me started on the whole changing the name of Hotel Director to General Manager...) 

 

From the very beginning, I knew that it was going to be a great cruise, notwithstanding the few people working in the Miami Terminal who had absolutely no idea what they were doing... Once I was on the ship, I was in my "Happy Place", my "Home" for the next 7 days... Pretty much everything I experienced from start to finish was enjoyable. The food, overall, was great in all the dining establishments I dined in. There was that tough piece of lobster at Ocean Blue, but I'm not going to let something like that put a blemish on my experience. My top meal of the week would probably be a tie between Onda and Los Lobos... Every single item I ordered turned out to be everything I had hoped for, and then some. Food Republic was great, as always, and I explored a few "new to me" items there. Cagney's has been a subject of debate lately, with many saying that it's going downhill, and then of course there's the "up-charge" items... "C" had the surf & turf, with the $19 up-charge, and the lobster tail was big, and cooked perfectly. 99% of the people eating there are using either their dining package or Platinum vouchers, so what's 19 bucks when you're on vacation? 

 

Ocean Blue was good, other than the tough piece of lobster, and I probably should've ordered something different than the cioppino. Everything else there was pretty good, and the service impeccable... 

 

The ship itself is a bit of an enigma. You have the giant space that was formerly Spice H2O being replaced with a laser tag arena, that I never saw a single person at. The few times I went back there, it wasn't even opened. My prediction is that the area will be converted into Spice within a year... I'm sure that plenty of people have complained about having their adults only area ripped out from under them. I always opt for a Vibe pass, and I know how much people just hate having to fork out extra $, but in my opinion, it's worth it. I like the idea of having somewhere to escape to. As far as the main pool area, I think it's far and away better than Breakaway, Getaway, and Escape... It's big and open, and the fact is that there are a ton of chairs down there. Now, I'm just not one of those pool type people, so whenever I'm in the area, I'm just passing through. There are many who are pool type people, and you may have to work a little harder to find the perfect spot, but there are chairs to be had in a variety of spaces. 

 

As for entertainment, I didn't go to anything other than the one night at the Cavern Club. I'm just not an "entertainment" type guy. My entertainment is moving about the ship, and watching what's going on around me. I mostly eat, drink, and chill out in Vibe... 

 

Hopefully I was able to give you some insight on what the Encore has to offer. 

 

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sid_9169 "Live from...." Rare

sid_9169

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Well, now the time has arrived for my traditional, better late than never, thank you list for all of you who followed along, and commented during my epic journey on the Encore... I've been home for about a week now, and I wish that I was right back there on board. This "review", if you can even call it that, was at times sidetracked, with having to deal with "C"... Not in a negative way, but I'm used to just having more focus when I'm there by myself... There probably would have been additional content if I hadn't been preoccupied at times. 

 

First, I want to thank the magnificent crew of the Encore, including Rommel, Cowboy, Bong, and Michael, who kept my cup filled to the rim with frosty adult beverages... Then there was Jovo, who always remembers me going all the way back to my very first NCL cruise on the Getaway... His assistant, Pam, and all the help she offered whenever I needed anything. Then there's my room steward, who's name I forgot, but that's only because he was so busy making the cabin areas so spic and span... 

 

I would also like to thank Slainte57 for compiling the list for me this time... Normally, when I get back home, I go back through the entire review and write down all the usernames, starting at page one... This is a task that often takes days, but with their help, I just "copy & pasted" the entire thing...

 

Then, there's blarko, who's name was unintentionally left off of my Horizon review a few months ago. I will never live down the moment when I realized that after all the careful work tabulating, that one of the most frequent posters ended up being left out...

 

So, without further delay, I  want to thank each and every one of you who traveled with me all the way from Atlanta to Miami, and through the sailing of the beautiful Norwegian Encore: deedle7544, Shaded Lady, edspec, ceilidh1, Greenpea2, blarko, Slainte57,  MrFunInTheSun, Nclgetawaymenhoney, Cole Thornton, HeyJut, luvcruzing, Hogladyrider, CruisinMama2003, meatball_nyc, reeinaz, Webecruzen, DeanDeeDee, Cruisercl, pinklucky61, SenatorsFan, cml4958, PortFees45, kpark895, HBCcruiser,
MzShae, Von & John, soccersharon, #55worktoplay, nccruzencouple, HowardK, cruiser147147, LincolnLegend, Jamman54, mopedmom1, jbhcw, pebbles1102, bina, maulers2000, LuvCruiSun, indygirl76, AmyJA, sueleekey, rd4sun, Punnymaker, BigNance, Snick500, grima625, snorklinbarb,
taraavo, onlyano, measlesmom, amelia3171, Hooked!, TravelGirlinDallas, Happy0810, All-ready2cruise, SMSACE6, Beachiekeen, nhtravels,zencruisers, graphicguy, david_sobe, DubNHub, purpleally, Shidah, ljrfrm, vettprincess,Just Jo, MimiRN, gd_at_sea, aztekpm, Steff79, Milly1966, prbffd28, KonkyWonky,
4ptjo, Db8coach, CruzinKristen, mommio, JandPB, sandyzag, bkrickles1, gatorchinsky, bones774, fyree39, CruisingSince1982, RenoNanaOz, JennVT, Langham1865, The_Portlandian, CoralHunter, TPgal, JGmf, floridaag, 30palms, pohlerbear, grandmarnnurse, OceanBlueWaters, mark290, Jim and Monika, Jim The Lizard, AKR2011, smplybcause, RedwingHockeyFan, kackles, rxlowry, RNRcruisers, keithj3, Mutumbojimbo, MrMike45, willsears94, DZcreature, cruise4family, yankfan, coastcat, BohJang,
sns1009, Oceansaway17, Noworkforme23, OHCruisin, Lem_On_Ade, CazV, 4hunters, brooklintee,
mkcurran, dcipjr, iguss, dshefter, anaslile, hladygirl, KAYKAY121, maryivo, G2inger, ssfaire, Calker, Tyskie, dgladis210, Katxx, debenson0723, herdingdogmom, threewide, The Sandrews, js, Putter23,
JinxyB, CelticMCO, Meimei 100, josh gates, lottiegreen56, Kalum,ReaderDame, GMoney, miataman19, gentscruising, firstimecruiseronncl, Sweetnspicy, ellenw, Nclcruise1415, nvdreamer, sl8rgirl, LaCal, Lisalk12, bigjohnwvu, CRUISERLT, soup23, BarnCat1, jaxw17, Harritine, Cccc89, eileeshb, bontx33,

g-cindy, Sammae, tmike, Cafedumonde, megansdad1, GirlWriter, and Saint Greg... 

 

Thank you all again so much for being a big part of this adventure... sid_9169

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prbffd28

prbffd28

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A perfect ending to an excellent review Sid, I tip my hat to you!! Your review allowed me to become familiar with the ship we board in 56 days I believe so I feel like I can navigate her with ease now, for that, I thank you again!!

It also conviced me that the best place for me to enjoy the OL will be either in a bar stool or a nice comfy chair, no couches or loungers for this guy!!!

I hope our paths will cross someday, until then, be safe and stay healthy!

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sid_9169 "Live from...." Rare

sid_9169

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Wow, that escalated quickly... I was at my part time job today, and started poking around at future cruises, since I had nothing booked following the Encore... Well, I ended up finding a cruise that tickled my fancy on the not yet finished Carnival Mardi Gras, Nov 28 2020!... Only 349 days to go, however I will probably be sailing something to somewhere before then...

 

IMG_20191214_174836.jpg

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sid_9169 "Live from...." Rare

sid_9169

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44 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

I know that the Bliss is almost identical to Encore.  Which did you prefer and which cruise was your favorite?

I guess that I do prefer the smaller, and more intimate Vibe on the Bliss, as well as having Spice H20... I could have a great time on either, and Onda is one of the greatest dining experiences I've ever had on a ship...

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