COME SAIL AWAY... FINALLY! Live Review of NCL Encore Alaska 8/21-8/28

[drumexpert510]

Dinner last night was at Cagneys Steakhouse. 
 

Food was great, servers were attentive. I had the “Porterhouse” (looked like a standard T-Bone but the flavor was amazing and the green peppercorn sauce was a great compliment. Creamed corn was “corn with cream” but still was good and Mac and cheese had amazing flavor and even had chunks of whole garlic in it. Others in the group had prime rib and filet and all enjoyed those as well.  The French onion soup was to die for and the raspberry creme brûlée has for years been my favorite dessert on NCL ships.
 

Obviously Cagneys is an NCL staple and is always worth doing for the steak/ meat lovers!

[adbinflorida]

19 hours ago, karatemom2 said:

I think NCL needs to revise their port time for Icy Strait Point. This is the third week in a row they have been very late. The first week missing the port due to a medical evac was understandable, but there have been no such issues the last two weeks and yet they are still over two hours late. If they can't make it by 1 p.m. they should just acknowledge it and change the port times for future cruises so people can plan accordingly.

They did just that.  We got an email this morning for our cruise next week that Icy Strait Point will be a 3:30 pm arrival and Ketchikan will be an 11:00 am arrival. 

[lks93]

Can you explain the transportation/walking trails at Icy Strait?  It looks like you take the gondola from the new port to the location of the old port where they have the museum, a couple places to eat and hiking trails?  You can then take a shuttle to Hoonah or if nice weather is there a hiking path to get to town?  We would like to walk around, see the sites, maybe sit and have a beer near the water... watch for whales.  Any suggestions on places to go, how to get around?  Thanks!

[Oceansaway17]

6 minutes ago, lks93 said:

Can you explain the transportation/walking trails at Icy Strait?  It looks like you take the gondola from the new port to the location of the old port where they have the museum, a couple places to eat and hiking trails?  You can then take a shuttle to Hoonah or if nice weather is there a hiking path to get to town?  We would like to walk around, see the sites, maybe sit and have a beer near the water... watch for whales.  Any suggestions on places to go, how to get around?  Thanks!

 

You just about covered it.  Gondola over to the other port, then a shuttle to Hoonah.  But you will need

to walk from the other ship dock up to the shops area to catch the shuttle.  Takes about 10 mins slow walk or 5 minutes quick.  BTW the large shop is wonderful

Also you can walk to Hoonah and then take a shuttle back.  They should have a tent and table with folks in Hoonah to get you on a 1 way back shuttle.  That is what I did.

If the weather is cool I suggest (unless you can't) walk 1 way and ride 1 way.  toodles

[Wink87]

1 hour ago, drumexpert510 said:

I am currently in the middle of unpacking and writing about Icy Straight Point yesterday.... it was......... unique. 
 

 

Lookout my forward to your thoughts on that.

[Wink87]

21 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

 

You just about covered it.  Gondola over to the other port, then a shuttle to Hoonah.  But you will need

to walk from the other ship dock up to the shops area to catch the shuttle.  Takes about 10 mins slow walk or 5 minutes quick.  BTW the large shop is wonderful

Also you can walk to Hoonah and then take a shuttle back.  They should have a tent and table with folks in Hoonah to get you on a 1 way back shuttle.  That is what I did.

If the weather is cool I suggest (unless you can't) walk 1 way and ride 1 way.  toodles

Did they still have the carts to get you from the older port to the shops?

[psac]

I’m not an expert, but as I understand it the filet portion of the steak has to be a certain size to be considered a porterhouse. That looks like one to me. A t-bone can have a small filet portion. Basically all porterhouses are t-bones, but not all t-bones are porterhouses (if the filet side is too small).  Looks good!

 

3 hours ago, drumexpert510 said:

 

[JYDCruise]

4 hours ago, adbinflorida said:

They did just that.  We got an email this morning for our cruise next week that Icy Strait Point will be a 3:30 pm arrival and Ketchikan will be an 11:00 am arrival. 

Thanks for the heads-up. I never got an email notification from NCL, and had just booked a 3rd-party excursion from Icy Strait. Now I have to see if it will still be possible.

 

Given that we now arrive so much later, will there be time for any excursions?

 

 

[worktocruise610]

On 8/22/2021 at 6:12 PM, The Traveling Man said:

That's F&B Director Ionela front and center of this photo.  Does anyone know if she is back on board the Encore now?

I heard she was promoted to GM, before COVID. We last saw her on the Escape 2019 and not long after, she was promoted and, I believe, went to Dawn. But of course things are way different now so who knows.  We loved her and I hope to see her on another cruise soon. 

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, worktocruise610 said:

I heard she was promoted to GM, before COVID. We last saw her on the Escape 2019 and not long after, she was promoted and, I believe, went to Dawn. But of course things are way different now so who knows.  We loved her and I hope to see her on another cruise soon. 

We sailed with her on the Dawn in September 2019.  She was still F&B.  Alain Magnier was still GM.

[drumexpert510]

Ok so Icy Strait Point.

 

I first want to say that yes we were late getting in and it made everything rushed, if it had been scheduled properly then maybe it wouldn’t have been the experience it was. 
 

Disembarking the ship was mayhem, at that port, there is only one available gangway which forces everyone off at the same point. They had Shorex in the theater, normal guest one below in Q forming lines and then just mayhem on the stairs and elevators (see pictures). Well, We had an excursion booked through the ship, Whales and Mammals watching boat tour. This met right outside of the ship so that was convenient, what was not was the fact that nearly 500 people were trying to board the boats all at once, again mayhem. Once we board the second of the two boats we started heading out only to find out about 30 min in that the engine to the bait wasn’t working properly so they turned around and cancelled. With that being said the crew handled it as best they could. So upon getting off the tour boat, we head over to the gondolas to go “into town”. 
 

This port is definitely still under construction, and while the 6 min gondola ride (free) was cool, once you got off there wasn’t anything really there expect where is looked like NCL spent a lot of money connecting the gondola system to this old fishing town (old houses and cannery were there).Other then two souvenir shops and a restaurant, there wasn’t much there just a lot of empty seats and tables that people were not taking advantage of.
 

We got lucky and walked out the back of one of the two shops and found a kiosk that said “buses to town $5”. This is where you can hop on a tram for a 1.5 mile ride into town, the drivers talks a bit along the way and it turns around and comes back.

 

You can see A LOT of effort is going into trying to make this stop worth something... maybe it will be one day as they are making a second gondola currently to the top of the mountain but as of now, I just was not feeling it.

 

We were however able to hop back on another trip from the whale watching tour and after about 2 hours saw an otter and a mother/baby humpback whale from about 50 yards away. 
 

I know NCL is investing a lot into this port but as of NOW I didn’t feel the vacation magic there. That’s not to say that once they finish building and the ship arrives on time it might be a better deal but that has yet to be seen for me unfortunately. 
 

I think this cruiser would have rather spent an entire day in glacier bay at a glacier! If you do find yourself at Icy Strait Point, I would recommend an excursion for sure and/ or maybe gear up for a nature hike. 

[drumexpert510]

Today we are in Skagway and I will write my review on here later! 

[karatemom2]

So sorry about the rough start in ISP. We had the identical experience getting off the ship last week. It was complete chaos. NCL has some work to do in smoothing out the rough edges for that particular port. Hope you find smoother sailing ahead!

Edited August 25, 2021 by karatemom2

[worktocruise610]

55 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

We sailed with her on the Dawn in September 2019.  She was still F&B.  Alain Magnier was still GM.

Maybe she was training? Lol I think she deserves a promotion, she was awesome. I’m actually hoping she’ll be on the breakaway when we go this year 🤞🏻I really liked her

[aubreyc1988]

If you remember, can you walk through casino in the evening and see if they have Pai Gow poker? It's doubtful but my husband is hopeful lol

 

[drumexpert510]

I forget to put the pictures of disembark for Icy Strait... see below.

[Baxter68]

Oh my 😳😳

[drumexpert510]

3 minutes ago, Baxter68 said:

Oh my 😳😳

Correct!

[JYDCruise]

1 hour ago, drumexpert510 said:

I forget to put the pictures of disembark for Icy Strait... see below.

 

 

Yoikes! I assume that Haven guests don't have to worry about this?

[joeflow80]

1 hour ago, aubreyc1988 said:

If you remember, can you walk through casino in the evening and see if they have Pai Gow poker? It's doubtful but my husband is hopeful lol

 

Affirmative on Pai Gow. I played my fair share of it last week on the Encore. They do deal it pretty slow compared to land casinos. Which is fine if you got a good table going. Not so fun by yourself.

[aubreyc1988]

6 minutes ago, joeflow80 said:

Affirmative on Pai Gow. I played my fair share of it last week on the Encore. They do deal it pretty slow compared to land casinos. Which is fine if you got a good table going. Not so fun by yourself.

face up or face down? 

[joeflow80]

Enjoying your review as it allows me to relive our adventure all over again. I'll agree with most of the points on ISP. It definitely left us wanting. My honest recommendation there is just take a short hike & enjoy the scenery (weather permitting). Bypass the gondola for the nature trail that runs parallel. Then take the trail to Hoonah, but stop at the first turn to sit and watch for wildlife. Maybe pick up some food at one of the diners at the dock to take with you to eat. We spotted whales & eagles at/near this spot. Wish that had been as far as we went.

 

The rest of the walk to town isn't isn't much different to see (except for perhaps the twin rock towers). And there really isn't much to see/do in town. It probably didn't help our mood that the big shuttle broke down, and their backup was going to take forever, so we had to take an unplanned walk back.

 

The ropes course there looks like it could be fun, but I don't think it's open yet.

[joeflow80]

6 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

face up or face down? 

Assuming you mean the player's hands, it's face down. But you can let the dealer play your hand by house rules if you wish. Don't think I've ever seen it played face up. It honestly doesn't seem as fun as you remove too much suspense.

[aubreyc1988]

4 minutes ago, joeflow80 said:

Assuming you mean the player's hands, it's face down. But you can let the dealer play your hand by house rules if you wish. Don't think I've ever seen it played face up. It honestly doesn't seem as fun as you remove too much suspense.

I play slots, I am just parroting what my husband asks me to LOL 

[aubreyc1988]

8 minutes ago, joeflow80 said:

Assuming you mean the player's hands, it's face down. But you can let the dealer play your hand by house rules if you wish. Don't think I've ever seen it played face up. It honestly doesn't seem as fun as you remove too much suspense.

ok I mispoke he is curious if it is conventional or face up, he said to show you this

Differences between Face Up Pai Gow Poker and conventional Pai Gow Poker

 

• Dealer cards dealt face up.
• No 5% commission.
• Dealer ace-high pai gow is an automatic push.
• No player banking