Shadowmeboy's 2022 Encore Christmas and New Year's Southern Caribbean Cruise Adventure

tsahall01 · April 18, 2023

Great review! My home for the past 22 years has been St Thomas! Magens Bay, my favorite beach, is a 5 minute drive from my house. I can see Magens from my driveway if I stand on my tippytoes. From our house we have an unobstructed down island view of Tortola, Jost Van Dyke and St John. Hope you had a great day on my island! Did you see walkers on the way up to Paradise Point? That is one hill I have not walked up--we usually drive up there--Prime Restaurant there is the BEST. They also make a pretty mean Bushwaker up there. The hotel, the Marriott (now a Westin) at the point on your sailaway was where I worked for 10 years--Pool Bar Queen!! Sadly, it has been closed since the hurricanes of 2017. They hope to open late this year or next--lots of delays.

Cheers!!

Edited April 18, 2023 by tsahall01

shadowmeboy · April 18, 2023

5 minutes ago, tsahall01 said:

Great review! My home for the past 22 years has been St Thomas! Magens Bay, my favorite beach, is a 5 minute drive from my house. I can see Magens from my driveway if I stand on my tippytoes. From our house we have an unobstructed down island view of Tortola, Jost Van Dyke and St John. Hope you had a great day on my island! Did you see walkers on the way up to Paradise Point? That is one hill I have not walked up--we usually drive up there--Prime Restaurant there is the BEST. They also make a pretty mean Bushwaker up there.

Cheers!!

Awesome! We enjoyed our visit to St. Thomas. It was our second visit and we really enjoyed Magens Bay.

I did not see any walkers. We had a bushwhacker the last time we were on the island, so we opted to skip it this time.

we look forward to our next visit at the end of 2024.

palpieha · April 18, 2023

14 hours ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

Gee, when we ordered a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Brut on Regent Cruises' Explorer, it was $69. Judging from the menu of bubbly here, the same champagne on the Norwegian Encore is $99. Didn't realize the mark up was quite that great between the two lines. Actually would have figured the pricing would be the other way around.

If you have the regular drink package, you get 20% off the cost of the bottle (for a $79 price). If you have the Plus package, you get 40% off (for a $59 price). Although with the Plus package, you can just get as many glasses of Veuve as you want at no additional charge.

Silver Sweethearts · April 18, 2023

1 hour ago, palpieha said:

If you have the regular drink package, you get 20% off the cost of the bottle (for a $79 price). If you have the Plus package, you get 40% off (for a $59 price). Although with the Plus package, you can just get as many glasses of Veuve as you want at no additional charge.

Don't you have to pay for those packages though?

purpleally · April 18, 2023

17 hours ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

Gee, when we ordered a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Brut on Regent Cruises' Explorer, it was $69. Judging from the menu of bubbly here, the same champagne on the Norwegian Encore is $99. Didn't realize the mark up was quite that great between the two lines. Actually would have figured the pricing would be the other way around.

I think NCL is way past $99 now. $69 is a great price on Regent, especially since I get 20% off

shadowmeboy · April 18, 2023

20 hours ago, drumming cruisers said:

Loving your review and all the pictures.

Thank you!

shadowmeboy · April 18, 2023

17 hours ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

Gee, when we ordered a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Brut on Regent Cruises' Explorer, it was $69. Judging from the menu of bubbly here, the same champagne on the Norwegian Encore is $99. Didn't realize the mark up was quite that great between the two lines. Actually would have figured the pricing would be the other way around.

Me too!

2 hours ago, palpieha said:

If you have the regular drink package, you get 20% off the cost of the bottle (for a $79 price). If you have the Plus package, you get 40% off (for a $59 price). Although with the Plus package, you can just get as many glasses of Veuve as you want at no additional charge.

Correct

24 minutes ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

Don't you have to pay for those packages though?

The Free at Sea is the one you get at booking and only pay the gratuities; the Plus is purchased above and beyond the Free at Sea.

11 minutes ago, purpleally said:

I think NCL is way past $99 now. $69 is a great price on Regent, especially since I get 20% off

It was $99 on the Encore in December based on the menu. Good price on Regent.

shadowmeboy · April 19, 2023

Day 10 - Port #7

January 1st, 2023

Location: Amber Cove, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

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So I slept in a bit today. I awoke to a message from room service saying they tried delivering our pastries. I was confused because I thought the pastries the day before were a one time thing. I guess not. I had to call room service and let them know we would take them, and five minutes later they were at our room with coffee and almond croissants.

Not that I am complaining!!

shadowmeboy · April 19, 2023

Off to breakfast at Taste.

Fruit Salad

Huevos Rancheros

Ham and Cheese Omelet

After breakfast, we headed to the Social for a Park West "Art of Collecting" Seminar.

Different pieces they were talking about during the seminar.

We learned a lot. We also got drawn in one of the "free" artwork raffles.

We headed up to the room afterwards to get ready for the day.

We have arrived into Amber Cove

Final Port photo!

We were going to head to Oceanworld, but with the extra OBC we had, we had changed it to go to an all inclusive.

We had forgotten something in the room, so Susan ran back. Once she got back, we rode on of the carts to the port area.

We waited a few minutes before it was time to head to the bus!

shadowmeboy · April 19, 2023

On da bus!

We passed the other Port area in Puerto Plata

Royal and Virgin were in today.

shadowmeboy · April 19, 2023

shadowmeboy · April 19, 2023

We arrive at Playa Dorada where the resort was located.

We were spending the day at Emotions all inclusive

Pool area

They showed us the property, and took us to the beach in case we wanted to chill there.

Beach area

In the 3 minutes we were on the beach, we got hit up by 4 different vendors walking the beach.

pano

We decided to head to the buffet for lunch, then we were going to hang out at the pool!

shadowmeboy · April 19, 2023

Buffet

Pasta station

View from the table

After we ate, we hung out in the pool. We played some volleyball and enjoyed our time.

The food was good, but the Dominican style of cooking is different from Mexican cuisine, so it wasn't as enjoyable. The fruit was excellent.

shadowmeboy · April 19, 2023

Soon it was time to head back to the ship. We loaded onto the bus and started the 45 minutes back to Amber Cove.

shadowmeboy · April 19, 2023

We arrived back at Amber Cove.

We decided to do a little shopping.

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We found a couple of items, then headed back to the ship.

shadowmeboy · April 19, 2023

We were excited, they were doing pictures on the textured wall. The ones on the Breakaway turned out really well.

These turned out well too!

Off to the Manhattan Room for dinner! No puking kids on the way in this time.

Coconut Shrimp

Italian Beef Meatball

Chicken and Matzo Ball Soup

Bruschetta

Caesar Salad

Baked Brie Salad

Braised Lamb Shank

Chicken and Seafood Paella

Dessert Menu! Can you guess what I am getting?

That's right! Warm Banana Soufflé

Snickers Pound Cake

Mexican Chocolate Cake

One of the photographers people watching!

We were exhausted after the day, so it was time to head to bed. Time change back to Eastern Time Zone tonight and then a sea day tomorrow.

--

shadowmeboy · April 21, 2023

Day 11 - Sea Day

January 2nd, 2023

Location: Caribbean Sea North of Cuba

We also got the dreaded "You'll Be Leaving Soon" flyer

shadowmeboy · April 21, 2023

Like clockwork, at 6 am here came the Almond Croissants and coffee.

I woke up to receive them, and then climbed back into bed for an hour.

I then headed out on deck for my final day of Vitamin Sea!

Cuba is in the distance

It was another gorgeous day!

shadowmeboy · April 21, 2023

Susan finally joined the land of the living! We took a little walk around the back of the ship.

Someone was finishing her almond croissants while walking

Do you notice what is missing?

They took the Christmas trees down overnight at least by Taste and Savor.

shadowmeboy · April 21, 2023

Fruit Salad and Cottage Cheese

Yogurt Parfait

Biscuits and gravy

Eggs Benedict - I had to have it this day, because its not offered on the final morning.

Egg and Avocado Wrap

shadowmeboy · April 21, 2023

We headed to the Theater for the Deck and Engine Q & A

Chief Engineer and the Captain

We headed to the Photo Gallery to finish up our Photo package. I highly recommend a photo package if you enjoy taking photos of your trip. I use the photos for my photo that pops up when scanning in and out of the ship. You saw all the photos we selected throughout this review.