Encore-Alaska-Oct 2nd to Oct 9th, 2021

[graphicguy]

So, this is a nifty free service.  If you have status with your airline allowing checked bags at no charge, you can check into your flights, have your baggage picked up outside your room the night before disembarkation, and have them transferred to your home airport.

 

 

[graphicguy]

6 minutes ago, ProblemCruiser said:

The refrigerated morgue is at the end of the hall on the right in case it's needed.  I envy you a little for being on the ship but I imagine the existential dread of it being your last day is like the weight of 100 Sundays.

Yeah…we spoke of reality beginning to set in at breakfast. That said, we have thousands of memories we’ll relive over and over.

 

I’ll have final thoughts and summations when we get home.  Probably post a bunch of misc pics then, also!

[NikiPinkston]

6 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

So, this is a nifty free service.  If you have status with your airline allowing checked bags at no charge, you can check into your flights, have your baggage picked up outside your room the night before disembarkation, and have them transferred to your home airport.

 

 

We used Port Valet on our 8/14 sailing and it was fabulous!  No schlepping of our bags to the shuttle or at the airport.  Highly recommend it.

[NikiPinkston]

2 minutes ago, NikiPinkston said:

We used Port Valet on our 8/14 sailing and it was fabulous!  No schlepping of our bags to the shuttle or at the airport.  Highly recommend it.

p.s. We didn't have status with Alaska Airlines allowing checked bags at no charge, but it just cost us $30 for each bag (the same as we would have paid at the airport) through Port Valet & they did all of the heavy lifting for us.

[graphicguy]

We are steaming back to the lower 49….

 

 

[graphicguy]

Game time at the railing in the Local for Lunch…

[graphicguy]

Buttery Nipple toast in the Observation Lounge to the best mixologists in the NCL fleet….

 

 

[JYDCruise]

11 hours ago, graphicguy said:

So, this is a nifty free service.  If you have status with your airline allowing checked bags at no charge, you can check into your flights, have your baggage picked up outside your room the night before disembarkation, and have them transferred to your home airport.

 

 

Yup, this is an *awesome* service. We have status on Alaska (via American) and so no baggage fees - just left the bags outside the door, and the next we saw them was at our destination airport. No muss, no fuss, no worries . . . and no thrown-out back lugging a waaaaaaay-overpacked suitcase more than necessary.

[mking8288]

9 hours ago, graphicguy said:

We are steaming back to the lower 49….

 

Still rocking and rolling with choppy seas tonight, nothing like those stormy Bermuda crossing in the Atlantic.  😉

 

Have a great and safe one disembarking, transit to SEA and homebound flight in the morning ... with the checked bags making it own way for transfer onto Delta, depending on your departure time - I suppose you aren't necessary going to be in a hurry and to make sure of the priority disembark or express walk-off (probably not really necessary when sailing with reduced passenger counts)   Being in Club Suite and with Latitude status, I suppose it's nice to get escorted at least up to the front of the line at the gangway & bypass at least some folks ...  Why not enjoy first the leisure morning onboard with a full sit-down full service breakfast instead of rushing, right.  

 

Look forward to your thoughts, summary & comments afterward with even more pictures - and whether you did manage to find the wall board with the ship's senior officers, etc.  Sleep well and thank you for sharing with us all here on CC.  Great job as always. 

[drumming cruisers]

We did Port Valet...ONCE!!!  got home and no luggage. Went to airline lost luggage office. had no idea where they were. Told us they would contact us when it was found. They called everyday. No luck. After a week told us to contact cruise line. We called and a day later they called ,,, had found our luggage!!! Had been sitting on the dock all week!!!!! Was on next plane and delivered to our home. Didn't lose anything but it was a hassle. 

Edited October 9, 2021 by drumming cruisers

[graphicguy]

12 hours ago, mking8288 said:

 

Still rocking and rolling with choppy seas tonight, nothing like those stormy Bermuda crossing in the Atlantic.  😉

 

Have a great and safe one disembarking, transit to SEA and homebound flight in the morning ... with the checked bags making it own way for transfer onto Delta, depending on your departure time - I suppose you aren't necessary going to be in a hurry and to make sure of the priority disembark or express walk-off (probably not really necessary when sailing with reduced passenger counts)   Being in Club Suite and with Latitude status, I suppose it's nice to get escorted at least up to the front of the line at the gangway & bypass at least some folks ...  Why not enjoy first the leisure morning onboard with a full sit-down full service breakfast instead of rushing, right.  

 

Look forward to your thoughts, summary & comments afterward with even more pictures - and whether you did manage to find the wall board with the ship's senior officers, etc.  Sleep well and thank you for sharing with us all here on CC.  Great job as always. 

We’re off and sitting at SEA.  Easy-Peazy!  Got coffee at the Garden Cafe around 6:30.  GF showered while I got the coffee.  Came back with coffee.  I showered.

 

Out of the cabin at 8-ish.  Boarding our bus to SEA by 8:20.  No lines. Walked right off.

 

 Still, we connect through ORD.  That’s always a crap shoot.

 

Headed to Centurion Lounge to wait 3 hours to board (United for the return trip).

 

Felt a little foggy this a.m. after hanging a little more than I should have with my Observation Lounge compadres.

 

Who says I can’t party like I did at age 25?  That answer would be every cell in my body….😆😵
 

Edited October 9, 2021 by graphicguy

[ClevelandCruisin]

12 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

We’re off and sitting at SEA.  Easy-Peazy!  Got coffee at the Garden Cafe around 6:30.  GF showered while I got the coffee.  Came back with coffee.  I showered.

 

Out of the cabin at 8-ish.  Boarding our bus to SEA by 8:20.  No lines. Walked right off.

 

 Still, we connect through ORD.  That’s always a crap shoot.

 

Headed to Centurion Lounge to wait 3 hours to board (United for the return trip).

 

Felt a little foggy this a.m. after hanging a little more than I should have with my Observation Lounge compadres.

 

Who says I can’t party like I did at age 25?  That answer would be every cell in my body….😆😵
 

We are waiting to board! Hope you had a great time!

[graphicguy]

2 minutes ago, ClevelandCruisin said:

We are waiting to board! Hope you had a great time!

Just posted in your thread.  You’ll have a wonderful time.  
 

Bon Voyage!

[graphicguy]

BTW…the pic I posted of the ship’s officers on stage at the Latitudes Party is the only pic I have of them.  

[NikiPinkston]

1 hour ago, drumming cruisers said:

We did Port Valet...ONCE!!!  got home and no luggage. Went to airline lost luggage office. had no idea where they were. Told us they would contact us when it was found. They called everyday. No luck. After a week told us to contact cruise line. We called and a day later they called ,,, had found our luggage!!! Had been sitting on the dock all week!!!!! Was on next plane and delivered to our home. Didn't lose anything but it was a hassle. 

We bought GEGO's a couple of years ago so that we can track our luggage on our phones. With GEGO, we would have known that our luggage was still on the dock.   It's given us great peace of mind & has been worth every penny.  You can also track other things, e.g., put one in your child's backpack or on your bicycle.  They're actually very reasonable and we highly recommend them.

https://www.gego.io/

Edited October 9, 2021 by NikiPinkston

[Kimbahh]

I hope you don't mind me adding this, but the Aurora Borealis was stunning at 2:00 am.  Alaska has never been more perfect.  We would never hesitate to cruise Alaska the first week of October again.  

[Wink87]

17 hours ago, Kimbahh said:

I hope you don't mind me adding this, but the Aurora Borealis was stunning at 2:00 am.  Alaska has never been more perfect.  We would never hesitate to cruise Alaska the first week of October again.  

Omg! Stunning!!!

[maggieq]

On 10/5/2021 at 5:43 PM, graphicguy said:

GF told me about Kinky Boots just now.  Cindy Lauper, right?  Not a fan.  Think I’ll enjoy Choir of Man, more!

We saw both on the encore TA.  Kinky Boots was amazing and we are no fans of Cindy Lauper.   Not crazy about man of choir but could have to do with the song selection 

[graphicguy]

On 10/10/2021 at 1:25 AM, Kimbahh said:

I hope you don't mind me adding this, but the Aurora Borealis was stunning at 2:00 am.  Alaska has never been more perfect.  We would never hesitate to cruise Alaska the first week of October again.  

Welcome to the party.  You’re always welcome.

We had seen the northern lights from our balcony.  I immediately got my GoPro to capture it, but even though the battery was charged, I couldn’t get it to turn on (still a mystery given it’s been OK, since).  Next up was my iPhone.  No luck there either.

 

But, we saw it.  Thanks for posting.  It was stunning in a week filled with stunning images.

[graphicguy]

14 hours ago, maggieq said:

We saw both on the encore TA.  Kinky Boots was amazing and we are no fans of Cindy Lauper.   Not crazy about man of choir but could have to do with the song selection 

I had never even heard of Kinky Boots until someone here mentioned it.  It wasn’t scheduled on our sailing, so I didn’t pay any attention to it.  Matter of fact, I didn’t even know what it was until I quizzed my GF about the show.  She told me the general premise.  No offense, but not “our thing”, so I doubt we would have gone to see it if it was on our sailing.

 

Our headline show was Choir of Man.  That was absolutely great.  We both enjoyed it immensely.

[bkrickles1]

14 hours ago, maggieq said:

We saw both on the encore TA.  Kinky Boots was amazing and we are no fans of Cindy Lauper.   Not crazy about man of choir but could have to do with the song selection 

While I totally respect your opinion, this is the first post I've seen where someone didn't absolutely love Choir of Man.

I've seen it twice, on Encore and Escape, and it was the most fun show we've seen on any cruise ship. 

On Escape, we saw it in the supper club and it was just amazing. It was my wifes birthday and she got brought up on stage to be serenaded to. So much fun!!

We're sailing Joy in January and we are a little bummed it's not on this ship.

We also enjoyed Kinky Boots, but Choir of Man was definitely more of a highlight.

[graphicguy]

2 hours ago, bkrickles1 said:

While I totally respect your opinion, this is the first post I've seen where someone didn't absolutely love Choir of Man.

I've seen it twice, on Encore and Escape, and it was the most fun show we've seen on any cruise ship. 

On Escape, we saw it in the supper club and it was just amazing. It was my wifes birthday and she got brought up on stage to be serenaded to. So much fun!!

We're sailing Joy in January and we are a little bummed it's not on this ship.

We also enjoyed Kinky Boots, but Choir of Man was definitely more of a highlight.

We concur.  My GF said if there would have been a 2nd show of Choir of Man, she would have gone to both.   I would have joined her.

[swmichigan cruiser]

6 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

We concur.  My GF said if there would have been a 2nd show of Choir of Man, she would have gone to both.   I would have joined her.

We were on the first two cruises on the Encore out of Miami in 2019. I really enjoyed the Choir of Man obviously I must have because I saw it six times over the two weeks but my wife only went twice. Fun show and just sat back and enjoyed it. The cast was great and they also played some in other places on the ship. Looking forward to seeing it again in 2022 on our two Panama Canal cruises on the Encore.

[graphicguy]

Misc pics

 

 

[graphicguy]

More misc pics...