NCL Encore Alaska + Panama Canal B2B: Four Weeks on Board LIVE

[plainsstormchaser]

Two special friends are showing us somee of the Seattle sites today. I'm writing this while traveling between things, so it'll be brief. Many more photos and commentary on the blog tonight at https://2of8000.website .

 

We've been at the Museum of Flight the past nearly 4 hours, and just touched the surface of the things to see and learn.

 

Here are some highlights:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, my, the ship is huge!

 

We went by Pier 66 after dropping off luggage at our hotel and saw Bliss... Encore's sister ship. Based on the amount of foot traffic around at 10am when we were there, I don't expect a lot of waiting on line to check in at 930 tomorrow.

 

Headed to the other side of the Sound now and will ride a ferry into Seattle a bit before sunset.hoping for some good photos, but with the smoke it may be difficult 🤔

[PATRLR]

Looking forward to the review - we get on in Miami when you get off on the 13th.

[plainsstormchaser]

Check-in Time

9:30am PDT

 

I was impressed with how well the check-in process went. Even getting a few minutes late start, at 9:37🤔.

 

It’s a beautiful day in Seattle, smoke is much less than last night. I hope it remains that way for sail-away!

 

The baseball game that would not end last night made getting around about sunset and the hour afterward much easier than Terry & Rene anticipated.

 

From the door opening to sitting in our seats in the boarding lounge…so close we can almost touch the ship…take just over 25 minutes!

 

 

[plainsstormchaser]

I continue to be impressed with the getting on & getting settled procedures. One of the things which has drastically improved due to the pandemic, IMO. Staggered boarding, the muster video during edocs and 2-minute safety briefing at your muster station, and that's really "it!" 

 

We've only ever boarded at Seward before, and it's always been smooth. But this is a whole new degree! Kudos to NCL for these changes! 

 

Now that we're officially on ship time, we're hard at work making good use of our beverage package and lunch at the Local. 

 

My Wrangler Burger and fries.. 

 

[plainsstormchaser]

I continue to be impressed with the getting on & getting settled procedures. One of the things which has drastically improved due to the pandemic, IMO. Staggered boarding, the muster video during edocs and 2-minute safety briefing at your muster station, and that's really "it!" 

 

We've only ever boarded at Seward before, and it's always been smooth. But this is a whole new degree! Kudos to NCL for these changes! 

 

Now that we're officially on ship time, we're hard at work making good use of our beverage package and lunch at the Local. 

 

My Wrangler Burger and fries.. 

 

[anewmac]

Will enjoy following until we join ya for the PC portion! Have fun! Hope to meet ya on board at some point! 

[plainsstormchaser]

Having a bit of technology issue tonight. I'll work with NCL folks on it in the AM. My Chromebook won't connect to ship WiFi so I'm limited to when I can hit cellular signal from land. Love to be able to upgrade to unlimited wifi to keep this going, but nearly $1k for four weeks is not in the budget.

 

A little bit of wave action the past hour or so as we are now in open ocean.

[j603]

I hope that you can get your tech issues worked out. I am very interested in your month long travel adventure!

[plainsstormchaser]

So far, I've been experiencing a lot of frustration getting my devices on the Internet. My phone, witht he NCL app, is working fine. But I can't get my Chromebook to go online, and haven't tried yet on the tablet. As I write this at 8am Monday, I am waiting for someone on staff to show up in the Internat Cafe who can help. 

 

The day has dawned grey, with low clouds and 8-foot seas. The rolling has been noticeable but not unacceptable so far. It looks pretty raw, but the outdoor temp is running in the upper 50's right now. We're off the coast of British Columbia in open sea, so the waves are no real surprise. 

 

Last night featured a comic show in the Social and dinner at Cagney's. (Photos later, can't get them off the flash drive while on the phone)

 

I'll have reviews of those when I can get more consistent Internet -- right now I'm typing this on my laptop in a text editor and copy/pasting to my phone to post.

 

A lot of events this afternoon -- we're back-to-back for a few hours. Thanks for reading!

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by plainsstormchaser

[plainsstormchaser]

Monday in retrospect:

It’s a beautiful day in Seattle, smoke is much less than last night. I hope it remains that way for sail-away! The baseball game that would not end last night made getting around about sunset and the hour afterward much easier than Terry & Rene anticipated. From the door opening to sitting in our seats in the boarding lounge…so close we can almost touch the ship…take just over 25 minutes

So, it turns out the warning on the doors is quite serious! Those are actually doors to nowhere…open them, take 1 step and you’re on an express elevator to the ground, three or four stores below!

The entire process of getting on the ship was very smooth, and I think the adaptations that were forced by the pandemic (for the most part) are good tings to hold onto. The changes in muster drill/safety training are especially welcome.

 

We stopped for food and drink at the first place we came to — The Local. First up: the celebratory drink!

We sat through sailaway in the Obervation Lounge, with Roxan’s friend Sam and Sam’s friend Roxanne, who are traveling with her/us this week. A funny event during sailaway: just as we started feeling the thrusters operate, we heard a crash of several glasses breaking in the bar (maybe 20 steps away from us) Snarky me: “C’mon, they did not accelerate THAT hard!!”

 

Comedy Show
Maybe you’ve seen comedian Tyler Boeh on Dry Bar Comedy — he’s on the ship for an engagement that started last week. I hope to get him aside sometime this week and talk with him about the life of a comic, how it’s different on the ship than doing the normal comedy circuit, etc. I’ll post that if I get it!

Dinner – Cagneys
Cagney’s is a must do for me on every sailing. The decore of this one is swanky, mch differnt form the decor on the Sun (almost nautical, as I remember) and on the Jewel (I remember a non-distinctive space taht felt a bit crowded). It’s too cold to enjoy a meal on the Waterfront, and I’m not certain how enjoyable that would be at 20 knots, even in warm weather.

 

Anyway, since we’d been piecing on stuff all day neither of us felt like having the entire multi-course meal. I chose a ribeye steak as my entree, with baked potato and steamed broccoli.

Ribeye, medium — just right! Well-marbled, excellent flavor. I was a bit underwhelmed by the potato, but that comes from eating at places that serve potatoes for 3 as a side, rather than an average size potato.

Roxan chose the Jumbo Shrimp entree, which is served on a bed of mushrooms (variety), along with truffle mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. We also had a delicious blueberry crisp dessert. The blueberries were just the right tartness to match well with the crumble crust and dip of vanilla ice cream.

 

Our service team was supremely attentive — I drink a lot of water and tea at meals, and there was never a time where I had an empty glass. They had just the right amount of entering the conversation to provide the service, wihtout being intrusive. They were led by our waiter, Maye Yasay, who I wanted to be certain to recognize for keeping things moving and for a great, friendly interaction.

All in all, our first day of the trip was top-level

 

Since I'm wirting this on limited wifi, I have not included the photos. They are here: https://2of8000.website/16-oct-seattle/

[www3traveler]

When you can, could you please post who the current Senior Officers are?

 

Thank You

[j603]

Out of curiosity, how is the Encore feeling with the 8 foot seas and their stabilizers? On the Breakaway, we barely felt the seas, and on the Carnival Liberty, we felt them quite a bit more.

[plainsstormchaser]

37 minutes ago, j603 said:

Out of curiosity, how is the Encore feeling with the 8 foot seas and their stabilizers? On the Breakaway, we barely felt the seas, and on the Carnival Liberty, we felt them quite a bit more.

I think we are more than 8 ft now, and it's noticeable but not unpleasant. Oddly enough I feel it more in the public areas on decks 6 and 7 than in our room on deck 8 far forward.

[j603]

21 minutes ago, plainsstormchaser said:

I think we are more than 8 ft now, and it's noticeable but not unpleasant. Oddly enough I feel it more in the public areas on decks 6 and 7 than in our room on deck 8 far forward.

Good to know! Our room on our Encore cruise is deck 8 forward, although not a s far forward as yours.

[LATTELOVE]

 

Following. Looking forward to your reviews and photos.

Never been to neither of those ports.

Looks like you have a wonderful itinerary for the

next 4 weeks.  

 

Have a wonderful cruise and thank you for 

taking us along.

[Elsammo46]

HAVE A FANTASTIC TRIP YOU GUYS

[plainsstormchaser]

6 hours ago, j603 said:

Good to know! Our room on our Encore cruise is deck 8 forward, although not a s far forward as yours.

Where at? Be aware the first half of the rooms from the District forward are over the theater. It was kinda noisy in the hall just now.

[j603]

6 hours ago, plainsstormchaser said:

Where at? Be aware the first half of the rooms from the District forward are over the theater. It was kinda noisy in the hall just now.

3 doors down from the District.  My husband is super pumped to be so close to his favorite bar on the ship. Luckily, we are both super sound sleepers and are capable of falling asleep in the middle of a marching band stepping on a herd of cats' tails.

[Erekosse]

Looking forward to your continuing saga. We'll be on the Encore in May.

[weltek]

3 hours ago, j603 said:

3 doors down from the District.  My husband is super pumped to be so close to his favorite bar on the ship. Luckily, we are both super sound sleepers and are capable of falling asleep in the middle of a marching band stepping on a herd of cats' tails.

Yes! Our favorite place to stay is in the short hallway of deck 8. Love the proximity to District (easy to pop out and grab a drink for our cabin balcony), quick access to everything waterfront, and it's not a heavily traveled hallway. But we do only book the Club Balconies on that deck (or the angled regular balconies next to those), so I think that helps mitigate some noise. I sleep with earplugs, anyway. I was SOOOOO happy to snag the first Club Balcony Suite in the row this time, as it's priced like a normal club balcony because it's angled. Huge money saver for just a little less balcony space.

[j603]

A couple of quick questions: did the Encore get the Coke Freestyle machines like the Prima received? And does the District still have a leader board for their All-Star passengers?

[plainsstormchaser]

Finally able to post this morning, ship Internet has been flaky and we just came into the edge of the Juneau cell service about 20 minutes ago. 

 

Monday (at sea)

This was the day for the Meet and Greet style gatherings, and we tried to hit every one! Thanks to everyone who showed up at the CruiseCritic + FB group Meet and Mingle/Greet event at noon! Silly me forgot to take photos!

 

Also attended a Latitudes cocktail party in Q Texas Smokehouse at 1pm, a quick meet the officers and pitch for CruiseNext sales. Be careful if you are expecting to get OBC in relation to the bonus, it appears the promotion has changed -- now it's double the CruiseNext value for the purchase price. So instead of getting $250 in OBC with a $500 CN purchase, you get $500 in CruiseNext value for $250 purchase price. Don't know that either is preferable, but wanted to be sure folks are aware of the change.

 

Then the (site not to be mentioned) group held a Shot Glass and bar crawl in the afternoon (I think we had some CC folks join in, which is a great thing as far as I can see...the more the merrier!). Here are a few photos from that:

Atrium Bar, shot glass exchange kickoff

Mixx

SugarCane's Mojito Bar

Observation Lounge Bar (part of the group)

 

We took a couple hour rest break and then joined the Captain's Cocktail Party in the Haven. 

 

We ended the night with dinner in Savor.

 

My choice: Roast beef on mashed potatioes and spinach, with a Caesar salad and a tasty apple strudel.

 

I guess it's a reflection on the quality of meals I'm used to..but this is the first time I've had a meal that looked so simple but was such a rich vareiety of tastes and textures. It was pleasing to the palate in every way!

 

Roxan had shrimp pasta alfredo. Thought the portion size was nearly perfect, she had bee piecing all day and didn't have the room to complete it. Taste and presentaiton were wonderful!

 

Meet our waiter, Kasih! His team provided excellent service, and I will ask for him when we next eat at Savor. I guess it's a reflection on us, though, that we don't eact many multi-course fine dining meals -- the amount of dish and flatware exchange that goes on during the meal bordered on obtrusive. But that's more a re reflection on us, not anyting negative about the experience.

 

We also saw a tremendous example of the service mindset we expereience throughout our NCL cruises:

 

This gentleman has put a bit too much pressure on the table as he started to get up and onto his cane, nearly tipping the table. The wait staff not only helped him stabilize, but as you can see one of them put the man's arm around his shoulder to stabilize him all the way out of the restaurant! A step beyond common courtesy, and something I wanted to be sure to note for posterity :-)

 

We're performing the spin about in order to dock in Juneau as I complete this. Its a cool, gray day, with a heavy fog/mist. Since this is our thrid Alaska sailing we have eleceted not to get off the ship for an excursion. Instead, I'm goign to get a massage and we're going to enjoy a large, slow-paced meal somewhere onboard. We can save these excursions for our next Alaska trip.

 

[plainsstormchaser]

13 minutes ago, j603 said:

A couple of quick questions: did the Encore get the Coke Freestyle machines like the Prima received? And does the District still have a leader board for their All-Star passengers?

Encore is still Pepsi at this moment I did not see the leaderboard, but I wasnt looking for it either. Was too consumed in getting the Meet/Mingle running smoothly :-)

Edited October 18, 2022 by plainsstormchaser

[j603]

I hope the Meet and Greet went smoothly!

 

[plainsstormchaser]

3 minutes ago, j603 said:

I hope the Meet and Greet went smoothly!

 

Yes it did. And we got things planned for the three members of the group who are having their birthday on Thursday -- a group of a dozen of us will descend on Manhattan MDR at 7pm Thrusday!