Seafood extravaganza on the Encore

[Warm-Water Diver]

Booked on the Encore 7 day cruise this upcoming January.

 

Does anyone know if they have the Seafood extravaganza on a particular day during a 7 day sailing and if so which night would that be? We have some specialty dinners booked but wouldn't want to miss this at the buffet.

[BirdTravels]

19 minutes ago, Warm-Water Diver said:

Booked on the Encore 7 day cruise this upcoming January. Does anyone know if they have the Seafood extravaganza on a particular day during a 7 day sailing and if so which night would that be? We have some specialty dinners booked but wouldn't want to miss this at the buffet.

NCL does not have a Seafood Extravaganza.

 

There is a seafood night at the buffet that has an extra fish dish or two and maybe some popcorn shrimp fried. The Local sometimes serves a deep fried seafood basket. 

Edited October 6, 2022 by BirdTravels

[Warm-Water Diver]

Well I guess they did away with it because it was on this review from January 2020. Starts at 11:13 on video.

 

 

 

[skeeter195]

We have been on 3 cruises(Breakaway, Gem and Joy) since October 21 and each one had a seafood night in the buffet.  Each time there was a chilled station with mussels, seafood salads and large(21-25) shrimp.  On the Joy in May there were even some tiny crab legs.  Then at least 5 different seafood dishes other than the normal things.  I always remembered this on other cruises pre pandemic also.  I have no idea what day it was, we would notice it in the daily.

[mjkacmom]

15 minutes ago, Warm-Water Diver said:

Well I guess they did away with it because it was on this review from January 2020. Starts at 11:13 on video.

 

 

 

They put out the fancy food for the travel agent folks during the first sailings.

[Cruising Lynne]

We went to the seafood night recently on the Breakaway. I always refer to it as shrimp night, because it has shrimp cooked at least four different ways. I really liked the garlic shrimp and the cold shrimp with cocktail sauce. They had fried fish and baked fish dishes and seafood paella. It was good but not like the Extravaganza in the video. 

 

I am hoping they will still have a more extravagant seafood night on the next Prima sailing on the 10th.  I could go for some crab legs!!

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, Warm-Water Diver said:

Well I guess they did away with it because it was on this review from January 2020. Starts at 11:13 on video.

So,,, what you are looking at is a buffet meal they put on for their non-revenue cruises with VIPs, travel agents and media on board. NCL needs the travel agents and media to recommend their cruises above and beyond any other cruise line and put on special events like this. And obviously the lady in the video can't differentiate something done special for their cruise versus what is "normal"

 

If you watched any of the recent Norwegian Prima videos, the people invited on the initial cruises got big swag bags in their room full of gifts... don't expect that on your cruise either. There is another media/travel agent cruise on the Prima leaving NYC tonight...

 

There is no seafood extravaganza on any NCL ships. 

 

I will say that the "regular" cruises immediately after a VIP cruise sometimes benefit by getting left overs. 

Edited October 6, 2022 by BirdTravels

[Warm-Water Diver]

Hey Bird, agree with you that the review was a special 2 day event hence the Alaskan King crab legs and Lobster tails. But as the other posters mentioned, there was a seafood night where they served multiple types of shrimp, fresh baked fish, clams, mussels etc. That is what I was referring to. I had that our recent 7 day cruise this past January and I believe they are still doing that option on 7+ night sailings.

 

I was hoping to find out when that was so I didn't have a conflict with our specialty dining reservations. I guess we'll just have to play it by ear once we're onboard and hope we can make adjustments if there is a scheduling conflict.

Edited October 6, 2022 by Warm-Water Diver

[Sthrngary]

The seafood Extravaganza was on the inaugural voyage for guest and trave agents.  It was spectacular.  Other than that, it is a seafood night and underwhelming. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, Warm-Water Diver said:

 But as the other posters mentioned, there was a seafood night where they served multiple types of shrimp, fresh baked fish, clams, mussels etc. That is what I was referring to. I had that our recent 7 day cruise this past January and I believe they are still doing that option on 7+ night sailings.

I don't want you to be disappointed. Clam dishes are not a big pot of unlimited clams. It is a handful of clams thrown on top of pasta (clam linguini). Shrimp dishes are a frozen bag of over breaded small shrimp tossed in the deep frier. Or some shrimp in the Indian curry. Or some seafood in a pan of paella. They will have fish on the "carvers" station (but there is normally a fish dish every night). The vast majority of the buffet will be the normal dinner buffet. 

[cruiseny4life]

Look closely at the Freestyle Daily on your cruise. In the daily you'll find that it tells you the special for the buffet that evening (shrimp, steak, western, Italian, etc.). It'll also tell you the special at The Local/O'Sheehan's. Then, you can re-arrange your specialty dining so you can enjoy the buffet special. 

 

Enjoy!

[KansasTexan]

I was on the Encore Sept 11-18, 2022. I was looking forward to the Seafood Buffet and as it turns out, that night my brother and his wife had specialty dining booked so I was on my own for dinner.  I ate (kind of?) at the buffet. It was the only meal the entire week that disappointed me. The cold shrimp was good and plentiful (mounds and mounds) but the other selections were really not that great. I would have been better off eating in the MDR. Your mileage may vary.

[debenson0723]

20 hours ago, Cruising Lynne said:

We went to the seafood night recently on the Breakaway. I always refer to it as shrimp night, because it has shrimp cooked at least four different ways. I really liked the garlic shrimp and the cold shrimp with cocktail sauce. They had fried fish and baked fish dishes and seafood paella. It was good but not like the Extravaganza in the video. 

 

I am hoping they will still have a more extravagant seafood night on the next Prima sailing on the 10th.  I could go for some crab legs!!

Just got off the Prima TA and never saw a crab leg.  I walked thru the buffet every night to see what was offered.  I was going thru on the last night to get to Food Republic and saw a large area with mounds of fresh shrimp. Grabbed a few for an appetizer before having a wonderful meal in FR.

I will say that the only thing I ate in 12 days onboard that was somewhat disappointing was the chicken sandwich in the MDR at lunch. It is similar to a chicken parm and was a little dry.

[BirdTravels]

On 10/6/2022 at 3:11 PM, Cruising Lynne said:

I am hoping they will still have a more extravagant seafood night on the next Prima sailing on the 10th.  I could go for some crab legs!!

The Birds will be with you and are hoping for the same thing. There is a VIP media and travel agent cruise this week (the ship left New York yesterday). We are hoping for some left overs next week!

 

The Birds have been fortunate to enjoy a VIP leftover on inaugural voyages of the Bliss, Encore (Thanksgiving Dinner 2019), and again on the Encore's first NCL US cruise in August 2021.  

 

Encore August 2021 - Celebrating all of the holidays missed during the pandemic

 

Encore Thanksgiving 2019

 

And for something different... we were on the maiden voyage of the Wonder of the Seas earlier this year where seafood was served on embarkation day at the buffet.

 

[Cruising Lynne]

BirdTravels, Wow!! Those pictures are making me hungry. My husband and I were just talking about the possibility of them re-stocking all the food for the next batch of VIPs. I am looking forward to at least trying some of the new items in the Indulge Food Hall. The first night will be an old stand by, Le Bistro. Looking forward to checking out the fancy decor, and not having to live vicariously through you. I do enjoy all your reviews and pictures.

[debenson0723]

1 hour ago, Cruising Lynne said:

BirdTravels, Wow!! Those pictures are making me hungry. My husband and I were just talking about the possibility of them re-stocking all the food for the next batch of VIPs. I am looking forward to at least trying some of the new items in the Indulge Food Hall. The first night will be an old stand by, Le Bistro. Looking forward to checking out the fancy decor, and not having to live vicariously through you. I do enjoy all your reviews and pictures.

LeBistro is very lovely on Prima and the food was excellent as always. The fun thing about the Indulge Food Hall is that the portions are not that large so you can easily try one or two new things and go back to a favorite if you don't enjoy them. My friend thought he was not a fan of Indian food but Tamara's chicken tikka changed his mind. I like the deviled eggs from Q so would stop by as soon as the Hall opened for dinner and just get a small plate of those. The dishes at Nudles were good at both lunch and dinner, and I had the Cobb Salad from the Garden a few times (with the added grilled chicken). It's hard not to over-Indulge while there.

Have a great time on your cruise.

[snorklinbarb]

In my experience the Seafood Buffet night at the Garden Cafe generally has fallen on night 2.  Usually there is a whole salmon at the Carvery, the previously mentioned shrimp, mussels and a Korean "soup" of littleneck clams plus many hot offerings.

 

Like the Birds, I'm also hoping there might be some special "leftovers" from the current media/TA cruise.  Your photos are mouth watering!  See you on the 10th.

 

On my recent Joy cruise of 10 nights, was surprised the buffet was held the last night.  I chose the MDR prime rib instead.