Encore secrets and tips

[Bob7]

Sailed week after inaugural cruise. First, all depts ran smoothly, no gliches:

1. Biggest secret, they have secret cookies. They were never offered at the buffet, and to get them you have to ask at the Bakery/Dessert station, they have them in the back, choc chip or all choc, chewy and good.

2. If you are considering upgrading the bev package to premium to get better wines (raises your glass limit from $9 to $15) there is only 1 wine priced between $9 and $15, a Temperanello for $10.

3. Drinks on embarkation day have an 11.5% tax while in USA waters, until about 5pm when the ship is outside US waters.

4. New (?) booze policy, wine brought on board embarkation day is charged the $15 corkage fee even if you keep it in your cabin. And the free bottle of Duc de Valmer Brut for bronze and above in your cabin is also charged the fee if you take it to a restaurant. Also a gift bottle like from your TA.

5. All popular events held in the atrium are super crowded, get there very early to get a seat. People drag chairs in from all over .... iCafe, Starbucks.

6. Tuesday night is seafood night in the buffet, crab legs and lobster. There was a 5 minute line for crab legs and a huge line way down the hall for lobster at 6pm. The crab legs and knuckles are opened, ready to eat. Chilled, not steamed. The long lobster line leads to both lobster stations.

7. Shore Ex sells the Skyride cable car up the mountain in St. Thomas for $29, and at the ticket booth they are $21. But maybe a good way to use your $50 shore ex credit.

8. We had a cat B6 (Big Balcony) cabin, never thought I'd say a ship balcony was too big, but it was huge, 18 feet by 8 feet, one lounger, 2 reclinable sit up chairs, large table, and a small side table. Cabin next to us had 2 loungers. Long walk from the balcony door to the railing:-) Only cabin prob was the a/c, set on max the cabin was still too hot. We like it around 67 (20C) for sleeping. Seemed to cool off a bit better by the wee hours of the morning. Had the steward replace the duvet with a thin blanket.

9. Dining: no more set dining times, all 3 MDR's have only anytime dining. If you like private dining the Manhatten has no 2 person tables, but the hostess will give you a 4 person table and remove the other 2 place settings. Savor has three nice 2 person tables at the window, and Taste has 1.

10. Specialty dining books up quickly, by day 2 there were no open times, a bummer if you're trying to use the SDP. On embarkation day they take bookings at the Teppanyaki. If the line at the entrance is long, go past the line inside and there are 4 more booking stations inside, with menus. It took about half an hour to book our dinners lining up at lunch time. Other days the booking desk is in the Atrium ... the hostess was shaking her head that one night Cagney's was overbooked, that would be a tense scene.

11. Events: event locations are not large, and all important events have to be booked. The theatre is only 1 level, no mezanine or balcony, fills up fast, and The Social used for comedy etc is rather small. You can book events on embark day at the Social, across the hall from Teppanyaki. The line at lunch was very long, but there are 10-12 booking stations inside and we were done in about 20-30 minutes and finally off to lunch. Events have standby lines for those w/o a booking, and if you are back about 20 ppl or at The Social so you'll get in b/c of no-shows. Choir of Men was fun, based on Cheers, and Kinky Boots was about inclusion, good fun too.

12. Speedway racers are $15. Water slides were great. Tons of pool loungers and chairs. No outside dining tables at the buffet, have to go out to the pool.

13. Debarkation was the best ever, no lineup, we were in the a/p transfer group at 8:15 ($16pp). Cabs are about $27 plus tip. Next time we'd go with a cab, less waiting.

[smplybcause]

2 minutes ago, Bob7 said:

If you are considering upgrading the bev package to premium to get better wines (raises your glass limit from $9 to $15) there is only 1 wine priced between $9 and $15, a Temperanello for $10.

 

The drink limit for the regular beverage package is $15. The premium is $35.

[Sauer-kraut]

20 minutes ago, Bob7 said:

New (?) booze policy, wine brought on board embarkation day is charged the $15 corkage fee even if you keep it in your cabin. And the free bottle of Duc de Valmer Brut for bronze and above in your cabin is also charged the fee if you take it to a restaurant. Also a gift bottle like from your TA.

 

Always a $15 corkage fee for bottle brought on board.  I don't believe the free bottle of bubbly rust remover wine incurs that charge it is a perk and therefore not charged.  I can't address the travel agent gift, but those are usually purchased through the cruise gift department and also shouldn't incur the corkage fee, that is paid when the agent purchased it.

[Greek Boss]

A few things to note.

While docked in most US ports, Norwegian ships charge sales tax for each beverage purchased. Additionally there are never set dining times on NCL ships.

Honestly not sure if the corkage fee is something new or if it is just lightly enforced. They never charged us corkage fees for our bottles of wine and honestly we were under the impression they only charged us if we took the bottles to the dining room. There was a thread about this the other day and it seemed like it was about a 50/50 split on people getting charged at the port.

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by Greek Boss

[Two Wheels Only]

1 hour ago, Bob7 said:

Drinks on embarkation day have an 11.5% tax while in USA waters, until about 5pm when the ship is outside US waters.

 

The tax (if applicable) will depend on the state that the ship embarks from. It isn't always 11.5%

 

1 hour ago, Bob7 said:

Specialty dining books up quickly, by day 2 there were no open times, a bummer if you're trying to use the SDP.

 

Some reservations open at 130 days before embarkation for suite guests and at 120 days before embarkation for everyone else. The remaining reservations open on embarkation day. 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by Two Wheels Only

[awinte2]

Thankyou Bob 7 for your helpful tips.

On the Encore Feb 2.  Can you tell me how much the laser tag is and how to you make reservations for that and the cars.

[david_sobe]

I got distracted at the "secret cookies" 😵

[hallux]

Most of these apply to most of NCLs ships, not much really Encore-specific here.  It's more like Breakaway+-class ship secrets, with some additional NCL/cruise tips added in.  Though it's still helpful for someone who doesn't want to wade through posts on this site.

 

By the way - on the Bliss, Joy and Encore you can bypass the specialty dining booking line by using the touchscreens by the elevators.  That's also where you can book tenders (if applicable to your itinerary).  Both can be done as soon as you board but PAY ATTENTION when booking tenders, the earliest available tenders may not be the first ones you see when you pull up that screen!

[Diane67B]

Thanks for the helpful information!

[Sand and Seas]

Loving this thread!  Thanks for starting it.  Making even more notes for our Encore☺️

[NutsAboutGolf]

Great info.  I wonder why there are secret cookies and if other ships have them along with if there are other secret items you have to ask for.

[Tapi]

We are not sailing on Encore until 2021, but I’m already taking notes. Thanks! 

[FLAHAM]

2 hours ago, hallux said:

Most of these apply to most of NCLs ships, not much really Encore-specific here.  It's more like Breakaway+-class ship secrets, with some additional NCL/cruise tips added in.  Though it's still helpful for someone who doesn't want to wade through posts on this site.

 

By the way - on the Bliss, Joy and Encore you can bypass the specialty dining booking line by using the touchscreens by the elevators.  That's also where you can book tenders (if applicable to your itinerary).  Both can be done as soon as you board but PAY ATTENTION when booking tenders, the earliest available tenders may not be the first ones you see when you pull up that screen!

Can also make dinner reservations using the in-cabin interactive televisions. 

[swmichigan cruiser]

We did the first two cruises out of Miami on the the Encore. I would suggest booking on line before the cruise for the Choir of Man. Great show and twice late in the last week I met two couples that didn't get to see the show because they were first time cruiser's and didn't know about booking shows online. And they didn't know about the standby lines if they couldn't reserve the show.

[hallux]

1 minute ago, swmichigan cruiser said:

didn't get to see the show because they were first time cruiser's and didn't know about booking shows online

Even people that aren't first-time cruisers might miss this.  If they've only sailed on smaller ships, or on other cruise lines that don't do the pre-booking of shows online they may not be aware of this.  I believe NCL only does the show booking on the BA and BA+ class ships because the theaters aren't big enough for everyone to see the shows, even with 4 showings of each show.

[NutsAboutGolf]

I'll expand on some NCL secrets.  With the drink packages you can get doubles (double the alcohol, but not mixers) or even ask for a double tall which is really two drinks in a larger glass, comes in handy before a show.  When it comes to shows, I can only speak from my experience on the Epic which has a huge passenger amount and relatively small theater.  If you can wait 5-10mins after a show starts, you'll find empty seats.  For whatever reason, the show wasn't what they were expecting and people leave.  I never had a problem with specialty restaurant reservations, I simply went to the hostess stand as soon as they opened, they were always able to book a table within two hours.  Lots of people cancel/reschedule their reservations.

[shof515]

7 hours ago, Bob7 said:

1. All popular events held in the atrium are super crowded, get there very early to get a seat. People drag chairs in from all over .... iCafe, Starbucks.

2. Events: event locations are not large, and all important events have to be booked. The theatre is only 1 level, no mezanine or balcony, fills up fast, and The Social used for comedy etc is rather small.

 

this is one of the things i hate about the breakaway/breakaway plus class ships. I noticed over the years, depending on the event sometimes they might add folding chairs as additional seating

[gmbhardy]

No more set dining times in the MDRs? When did that change?

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, gmbhardy said:

No more set dining times in the MDRs? When did that change?

A very long time ago

[BirdTravels]

7 hours ago, awinte2 said:

Thankyou Bob 7 for your helpful tips.

On the Encore Feb 2.  Can you tell me how much the laser tag is and how to you make reservations for that and the cars.

On touch screens or at The Social on embarkation day. The will sell out for the entire duration of the cruise on embarkation day. Book quickly. 

[Sand and Seas]

We have found there is good availability in the 'stand-by' line for the 2nd (latest) theater shows.  My guess is that people make those reservations, then are too tired after their day in port or by the pool to make that 2nd show. 

[awinte2]

Made our show reservations and MDR reservations through NCL a month ago. Could not do it on line had to call and he did it all for us. Made dinner reservations for 5:30.  They would not do a reservation for MDR if  you booked a early show as they alot a certain amount of time for each  dinner reservation.

[LrgPizza]

17 hours ago, gmbhardy said:

No more set dining times in the MDRs? When did that change?

 

Like, forever ago - many, many, years ago.  I get the impression from some of these tips that this poster hasn't sailed NCL in a very, very long time, if ever.

[Sauer-kraut]

Set dining room times ceased when the S.S. Norway blew up.

[gmbhardy]

3 hours ago, LrgPizza said:

 

Like, forever ago - many, many, years ago.  I get the impression from some of these tips that this poster hasn't sailed NCL in a very, very long time, if ever.

 

That was my failed attempt at sarcasm, lol.