Encore Panama Canal crossing MIA-LAX: Our thoughts/ feedback/ observations

[Sydneyberlin]

We’re just back from a long 15 days cruise on the Norwegian Encore and thought to share some of our experiences and maybe dispel some myths along the way as there are many of those to be found on this forum. 

 

Before we start, it should go without saying but I better just say it upfront- these comments are solely based on our own experiences and sometimes on conversations with other guests and staff. You will find that we’re fairly opinionated and I believe that’s a good thing when writing a review as one can otherwise just peruse NCL’s marketing collateral. And of course, people and their opinions are very different, that’s the whole point. So please don’t flame me if you don’t agree or else if you must, then go ahead- we’re in “fresh of the cruise” mood so nothing can really hurt us at the moment 🙂

 

One specific remark I want to make as I know already some of our comments might come across as “ageist” and that’s really not how it is meant. We have lots of older friends and relatives whose company we very much enjoy and again, everyone is different. We’re a gay couple in our mid 40s and that’s the review you will get. Like it or not, it’s just how we experienced this cruise.

 

So without further to do, we arrived from Sydney, Australia via Tokyo and then one single night in New York City (that one wasn’t our original plan but is courtesy of Japan Airlines who cancelled flights at the last minute and then were unwilling to accommodate us on a better alternative) and one night in South Beach Miami before boarding the cruise. Needless to say that we were jet lagged but glad we’re left some additional nights in between to not miss our cruise. So when reading about the usual whinges on here about missing a cruise after flying in from Nebraska on the day of cruise departure, an annoyed eye roll is the most polite reaction you’re going to get from us 😉 

 

The first disappointment of the cruise welcomed us at the pier in Miami- one of the main reasons we had booked this specific cruise out of Miami (which is not exactly the easiest port to reach from Australia) was to try the flashy new NCL terminal. But meh- Norwegian in their wisdom had placed the Escape there and we ended up in a hardly used old Carnival terminal further down which was clearly not designed to handle a ship of this size. In general, with 8 ships in port all at the same time, the port was an absolute mess and traffic in and out a nightmare. Luckily again, we always plan loooots of time for safety so the over 1 hour Lyft ride from South Beach couldn’t really phase us. On arrival, there were some semi-official luggage handlers curb side who took our suitcases and I tipped them US-well, just to make sure they don’t “get lost”. Luckily, despite the rotten old terminal (with slightly faded Carnival signs and posters everywhere), there was a specific check in for Haven guests and we therefore avoided the nasty looking general check in area. Haven guests were in an area to the side where you could get tea and coffee, finger sandwiches and the likes so not too bad. Also turned out that we were right spot on time as waited not even half an hour until Bowen, our Haven concierge, introduced himself and escorted us to the ship. I have many times in my life boarded an airplane as the very first guest on board (usually these days due to flying in a Premium cabin and/or status or simply good elbows way back in my EasyJet days…) but this was the first time being the first guest onto a ship so I very much enjoyed this feeling.

 

This is a good moment to quickly pause and just tell you what kind of room we had and how it came about: This cruise was booked three times altogether with the first two being cancelled due to the pandemic but always on the Encore and always crossing the Panama Canal. We were originally in a “Club Balcony suite” which must be the most misleading term for a stateroom ever as it’s explicitly NOT a suite coming with Haven access, and rather is just slightly bigger than a standard balcony. Why they don’t call it “Extra large Balcony stateroom” or something along these lines is honestly a riddle to me. But anyway, we’ve been in one of those before and it suited us just fine. But when the Upgrade Advantage email came and we thought of the three years we had been waiting for this and the long overall duration of the cruise, it was a no brainer for us to go in BIG. We weren’t really that keen for a two bedder family room as that just feels overkill to us but the Haven Penthouse stateroom we got in the end sounded just perfect so we put in the max possible bet. And voila, three weeks out we got our upgrade confirmed and we’re over the moon about it. I will in the following try to concentrate on the more general aspects of this ship and rather write a separate post in the dedicated Haven thread which had helped us so much with planning all this but please be aware that it’s still written from the perspective of a Haven guest no less and some of the worst aspects of this ship would (thankfully) not have affected us.

 

Let’s now talk about specific aspects of this cruise and we will try our best to address some of the more contentious topics on this board- once again, flaming optional. First off, probably the biggest downer was the (lack of) entertainment if you can even call it that. When we had originally booked this cruise (and, hilariously, even after all this Covid stuff and up past the date of final payment), one major draw card for us was the Kinky Boots musical. We had missed it while it played in London while we had lived there temporarily and had heard only good things about it so we were really, really looking forward to it. As a gay couple, we also had very much enjoyed Priscilla on our last NCL cruise on the Epic which was great fun so we were hoping for something at least a bit similar and upbeat like that. But no, out of pure stinginess it seems, NCL pulled the plug just after we had paid in full and never offered an apology, let alone a decent replacement. Which gets us back to the overall lack of entertainment and atmosphere on this ship which turned out to be a total snore fest. We knew very well that the crowd on a longer positioning cruise like this would be older which we thought would fit us well as it means less kids. 

 

Unfortunately, the Haven specifically was still full with screaming toddlers and careless parents so we felt like getting the worst of both worlds as otherwise, the overall age was somewhere around retirement age or above. Don’t get us wrong- we met lots of lovely people way older than ourselves and had engaging conversations and all but the entertainment was appalling as a result. 

 

We already were never too keen to see a bunch of gay guys pretending they are heterosexuals screaming lame country rock songs in a fake British pub but making this “Choir of Man” show the “headline” act on this ship is just ridiculously poor. The one show that rattled this ship was the horrible Beatles knock off which basically featured the same smiling Pilipino crew members you encounter everywhere else in the ship, just wearing ridiculous wigs and screeching some songs from yesteryear. My parents are in their 80ies and I’ve been dreading “the phone call” about one of them for at least ten years now but, bless them, it never comes. However, the Beatles is something even my parents would roll their eyes at and wonder why the heck someone would drag this out of the cupboard. Well- it seems to work for this audience so they even streamed it to the pool deck or had them play the main theatre. If NCL thinks that no one notices, well, we do. This cruise line was known for offering amazing Broadway style production shows and generally some decent entertainment but it’s just not what’s happening right now which was a huge disappointment for us. 

 

And the rest? The piano singer was so bad that we mistook her for a Karaoke show twice while the real Karaoke show had such a “ripe” selection of contestants that we literally knew not a single song displayed. Parties out on the pool deck? Oh, Country Western, Line Dancing, 70ies party and, you guessed it, Beatles-coverband. The one half way enjoyable dance event on the entire 2 weeks long cruise was the Silent Disco which is done really smartly and feels more technologically advanced than on other cruise lines. Unfortunately, it is a strictly 45 minute affair and then they kick you out of the venue with lights on, taking even the last bit of atmosphere out of you (DJ Diaper is on two hours later only with, surely, the best of the 70ies and 80ies). We asked the crew members organising the silent Disco if it’s at least a different 45 minute roll on different evenings and they told us that they’re highly annoyed by it themselves as it is indeed the same music every single time. What a waste of an otherwise great system, such a shame. The location that the Silent Disco is in, “The Social”, is part of the problem we think- the ship lacks a proper nightclub and hence you always end up in this multifunction venue for a certain amount of time. 

 

We also ended up there in the social club to see two of the comedians, more out of desperation than real interest. We went to the 18+ version of both, hoping for something half way fun but no, it was very distinctly prude US 18+. The first one was truly awful, started with the F word a few times to mark this as an 18+ show but was otherwise boring as they can be. When he then made two desperate homophobe jokes, we left the theatre. The second one was a bit more funny but still nothing to write home about. We thoroughly missed Kinky Boots or any major production show and really, we missed any music from post 80ies (anywhere, really, apart from the 45 minutes of silent disco) or any party that deserves the name. Last time, pre-Covid, on the Epic there was a proper nightclub and we had some rather good events there and on the pool deck- an EDM party that was our favourite or 90ies, 2000s parties. Nothing here, everything was stuck in the 60ies or 70ies. And of course, each to their own but the beauty with a ship of this size is usually that there’s something for everyone.  Again, I’m not trying to be ageist but to us, this entire ship felt like an end of life hospice most of the times- which was almost entirely NCL’s fault (not the guests’ fault!) with the stripped down and repetitive entertainment program.

 

Now that our major gripe about the entertainment is out of the way, lets discuss some of the positives that I’ve seen heavily debated on here, mainly the food and beverage. While we ate mostly in the Haven which was truly devine albeit a bit too seafood-focused for our liking, we also dined at several specialty dining venues and the main dining room. We both agreed that in absence of the Haven, the latter was perfectly sufficient and this is where Norwegian still blows the likes of Royal Caribbean out of the water: at all times was the choice and quality of food absolutely delicious and service in the MDR was spot on though we had to slow down the ordering of each course as we don’t like to rush down our meal in 45 minutes. Like on our past cruises, this was not a problem once you’ve informed your waiter that you’d like to stretch out the meal. Likewise, if you wanted two starters or no starters but two entrees- no problem whatsoever. We also went to the buffet which also, for a buffet, offered a rather decent quality (and choice) of food. 

 

Of the specialty dining rooms, we went twice to Le Bistro which felt like a bit of a waste as the food up in the Haven is of very similar quality. We enjoyed the Fois Gras both times but were rather unhappy about the upcharge- $10 plus $2 service charge (is that for stuffing the metal tube down the ducks’ throats we wonder?) for a super tiny sliver of Fois Gras is just overkill. We also originally had Cagney’s booked but given the Haven does good enough steaks, we re-thought our choice. We generally found the food on this ship too sea-food focused and while my partner generally does not mind, even he had too much of it in the end. I can’t have seafood at all or get really sick so I suffered quite badly from the fishy smell everywhere. And while they even have an additional seafood place, Cagney’s for all places also concentrates on bloody seafood. What should be a meat lover’s paradise, has not a single proper meat Appetizer but instead plenty of seafood. The only starters you can have without fish or seafood are the dead boring salad or an onion soup, both being “available everyday” standard options in the MDR. And there are plenty of meat starters that are excellent but missing from any of the specialty or Haven restaurant menus: How about a duck or chicken liver Pâté? Ideally with Fois gras but even if not, nice enough if done well. Or a Champagne style Pork Pâté (I’m talking Champagne in this context as the region in France and not the drink which is also from there)? Beef carpaccio? Or even some Spanish style ham croquettes? Nothing, just prawns, lobster, scallops galore. 

 

Carpaccio was at least available at Onda which was our favourite dining venue, by far. We loved the more modern design and atmosphere and the food also was just to die for. A way better restaurant than the old La Cucina with its tacky fake Julius Caesar busts and the like. 

 

I should also mention that Mexican has replaced the churascaria that exists on some of the older ships (in the same space opposite Cagneys). Upon realising what a seafood fest Cagney s would be, we changed and tried this new Los Lobos instead. We liked the food as TexMex is not that common down in Australia but could imagine this being super boring to our US based friends as you can get this kind of food in every small to mid sized town. Nice decor but otherwise pretty stock standard and huge portions. Big letdown here was the atmosphere- you could give this such a nice party-like atmosphere with margaritas and tequila shots and general party vibes, bur like almost all of the ship, there is no atmosphere to look forward to here. And where the food is concerned- this is clearly a pocket friendly replacement for NCL as spiced mince is way cheaper than proper steak cuts needed for a Churasco.

 

On the topic of ship atmosphere: this is difficult to write without being offensive, but I will try. This is my sixth cruise so far (a drop in the ocean compared to many cruisers!) and something I’ve come to enjoy is meeting so many staff members from different parts of the world. I’m not naïve, I’m aware that most staff are from some not so well off parts of the world. But it used to be a variety of staff from a variety of places. On this particular cruise, it was almost entirely Filipino staff with a sprinkling of Indonesian and Indian staff in between. Of course there are individual staff who are great at their job, and are a pleasure to talk to and we rewarded genuine effort with tips snd hero cards etc. But if I was to generalise, this lineup of staff tend to offer non-genuine smiles and insincere service, can follow a specific set of instructions but not much else, and in bad cases look for ways to avoid work or tend to get things wrong. Also, I don’t know how but they just manage to suck the FUN out of the atmosphere, whether at a bar or in a Mexican restaurant (see above). I firmly believe it takes a multicultural staff to provide an international experience on an international ocean cruise ship and that was really lacking on this ship.

 

For us and as in the past, our favourite was the Premium Plus drinks package which is just an absolute bliss. Both Veuve and Pommery Rosé was available by the bottle for dinner and if you wanted a second one, no problem. The wine choice has changed- there’s now a list of wines by the glass which you all can have by the bottle as well but as others have noticed, despite over-inflated price tags on the menu, most of these wines are from the lower or middle shelves in your local liquor or super market. The whites and Rosés I tried were really awful and in the end we settled on the Duckhorn Merlot as the red of choice which was at least drinkable. But otherwise, where French champagne or spirits are concerned, it was the same great package as always, plus endless included Starbucks, Red Bull and fancy Italian water.  Now- while still advertising “anything by the glass” as included in various places (app, website, even on some menus), this old rule has been watered down seemingly recently. So far, the only two drinks that are now suddenly asterisked as being “Connoisseur Selection” and therefore not included are the Louis XIII cognac and the Jonny Walker Blue label. While the former would probably be wasted on me anyway as I’m not a big cognac drinker and the latter I find overrated anyway, I was still offered the Jonny Blue several times without upcharge in the Haven bar. However, these newly introduced exclusions make me fear that this is not the end of the road and if they start tinkering with the French champagne as I’ve seen being discussed elsewhere already, or some of the other bigger high end spirits, then they start treading very thin ice. The Free at Sea package that most folks have included anyway covers more than some of the extra pay packages on other cruise lines. And the Plus upgrade costs a very pretty penny so people like us are VERY closely watching. For us, the French champagne including Veuve is the major reason to upgrade, for others it might be some of the spirits or the Starbucks. But downgrading this plus package any further would probably get many people to simple not upgrade anymore. I know that many non-heavy drinkers laugh about this but for us, this even goes a step further: Being able to upgrade to a package that includes unlimited good quality French champagne is one of the key reasons for us to go with Norwegian, alongside the entertainment (which was dismal on this cruise). We’ve tried RCL before- there you upgrade and still no proper Champagne in sight. Celebrity is similar (and otherwise a strong contender for us in terms of food, crowd and entertainment) they offer you one type of no name generic French Champagne, AFTER you upgrade. No Veuve or anything near it- it’s more the kind of stuff you get as a super special in bottle shops or supermarkets. Yes, it’s technically from the Champagne region and all but it’s their bottom of the barrel cheapest grapes munched into an ultra cheap Brut. Similarly, we are very strongly considering Viking at the moment given the guaranteed lack of children but they, also, make you upgrade but still explicitly exclude the French champagne. So NCL really got something going there for them so if they water it down further now, then that might really be it for us- not saying we will never cruise NCL again but it then is again just one of many to chose from.

 

So where does this leave us for future cruises? I honestly don’t know. Going back to the bowels of the ship is unlikely once you’ve experienced the Haven. We got one NCL booking next year with two Future cruise credits left still from pre Covid times but I’m more and more inclined to not even use them anymore. Looking at prices, the Haven is always thousands more than let’s say the MSC yacht club which sounds like a very similar product. And given the entertainment was worse than meh on Norwegian anyway, we’re also really closely looking at Viking as their no children policy sounds very very attractive to us. Entertainment can’t get more sleep inducing that non stop Beetles cover band so that wouldn’t be an issue. We’ll just see how the Champagne situation on NCL develops and then make our decision. 

 

 

[BEACHBARB]

Love your review and honesty.  I really laughed several times.  We're sailing the Encore in January and I'm disappointed in the entertainment listed.  On the Bliss a couple years ago we saw SIX and it was awesome.  This past February there were some kids in the Haven and they were not parented well.  One little girl was doing cartwheels in the Haven lounge (on the Getaway which has a smaller lounge).  We tried Los Lobos on Bliss and really liked it - sorry you didn't.  But there were 6 of us so we entertained ourselves.  Have you looked into Virgin - no kids on there either  

[IrieBajan54]

Great review! I was on your cruise but in steerage.🙂 Just so happens that I am one of those who prefer seafood. Went to both Ocean Blue and Cagney's twice and yes, I ate seafood in both places, LOL. However, I don't eat tilapia and that was available too many days for lunch in the Garden Cafe.

 

As for music, I enjoyed Full Coverage in the Atrium and by the pool.

 

I've been cruising for something like 27 years and the disembarkation in LA was the worst ever. Never seen anything like it before. It took at least two hours to get out of the terminal. Luckily, my flight home was after 4:00 p.m.

Edited May 5, 2023 by IrieBajan54
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[Isabella Benjamin]

My family and I just got off the Encore in Vancouver.  We picked it up in LA on the day you left.  We also had a two bedroom Haven cabin.

 

I agree with a lot of the same things.  The entertainment was not great. I'm so sorry you missed Kinky Boots.  My husband and I saw it on a previous cruise and it was wonderful.  We had seen Choir of Man previously and this group didn't seem as good for some reason.

 

My biggest problem on the ship was with the beverage service dept.  I am a petite, 4'11 woman, but I AM taller than the bar.  Bartenders just never see me on NCL.  I usually stand at the bar for 10 minutes, watch them wait on everyone else who comes after me and then I get my husband to go get the drinks.  

 

One morning in the garden buffet I went to get a glass of ginger ale.  There was a line and I was happy to stand in line and wait my turn.  Finally it was my turn.  Just then a group of guys showed up at the bar.  The bartender, who had made eye contact with me several times asked who was next.  I told him I was next.  He was looking right at me, he heard me, and he promptly asked the guys what they wanted.  Even after the guys informed him I had been ahead of them, he would not take my order.

 

Another day we went to The Local.  I asked a server for a menu and he told me they were no longer serving food on that side and I'd have to go to the other side.  I went back to talk with my husband and noticed a family come in and sit down.  That same waiter immediately handed them menus and silverware.  

 

It wasn't just me.  My son-in-law was waiting in line at a bar and when it was his turn the bartender actually asked the guy behind him what his order was. 

 

All of these little interactions put a damper on the trip.  This isn't a one-off with NCL, this is a pattern. 

 

 

 

 

[Jordan61]

I know you were very excited about this cruise, so I'm sorry to hear about how it turned out. I'm on the Bliss a week from tomorrow, and fingers crossed we'll have a great time! We haven't cruised in 8 years, maybe that will help. 😁

[Sydneyberlin]

On 5/6/2023 at 5:57 AM, Isabella Benjamin said:My biggest problem on the ship was with the beverage service dept.  I am a petite, 4'11 woman, but I AM taller than the bar.  Bartenders just never see me on NCL.  I usually stand at the bar for 10 minutes, watch them wait on everyone else who comes after me and then I get my husband to go get the drinks.  

 

Oh this is just awful and unacceptable, I’m so sorry to hear you got treated like that!

[Linsuesue]

We were on this cruise too, and similarly disappointed with the entertainment. We saw Choir of Man once, enjoyed it and moved on. The mentalist, magician, and juggler were at best mildly entertaining. The Nashville Tenors were good but there was no Wow Factor show that used to set NCL apart from the other cruise lines.  The day of the first port, people going on excursions were directed to go to the theater. That was a cluster of major proportions! A woman on a mike standing in front of a stage reading one or 2 numbers at a time that were for excursions lining up was ridiculous. Everyone was instructed to come in and take a seat, but the theater was full. One aisle was full of people for some excursions being released from the back of the theater. The other aisle was full of people lining up to get released from the front of the theater. Lines in the hallway to the theater were backed up the staircases and the elevator entryways. Disembarkation was the worst I have every experienced in 16 cruises. Because our NCL booked air fare had us leaving at 7:00 pm, we booked the Los Angeles 5 hour excursion. Because of the mess of debarkation, our bus left 1 1/2 hours late. The Los Angeles excursion group had to have 4 bus loads of people crammed in Los Lobos. Once they released us to go get our luggage and go to the buses, all of the hallways, elevators and staircases were loaded with people. We had to go down a floor to the Manhattan to exit-why didnt they just have us line up in the Manhattan to begin with? The luggage tags for our excursion were black. Once we got down to the terminal we discovered that black tags were used for more than one group! Black VIP and Black Tour tags. Why would one color be used for more than one group? There was such a small group of customs officials to release everyone! I think there were 6. The lines through the terminal were split in 2 so there were only 3 customs officials for each line. After us, there was somebody who passed out waiting for so long at the curb for their shuttle to the airport. Some people just gave up and called an Uber because there were not enough shuttle buses to handle that crowd. I was traveling with a group of 30 people. Thanks to NCL Air department, 8 of our people were flown to Ft. Lauderdale instead of Miami. Thanks to the flooding there, a whole new set of problems were created. None of the 30 would ever use that NCL airfare program again.  I would NEVER book another cruise that begins or ends in Los Angeles either. 

[MSUjohn]

i did a 21-night san fransico to new york cruise for my 40th birthday, right when covid was kicking off (the princess ship was having its woes when i was on my cruise). this was by fare my favorite cruise ever.

 

NCL's entertainment (and food for that matter) has been heavily trimmed since coming out of the covid pandemic. this is understandable they are still billions in debt, and still have not turned a profit. even a croatian waiter on one of my cruise stated about NCL's penny pinching. 

 

i am going to go out on a limb, and say all cruise lines are cutting. it is noticeable on airlines too.

 

 

 

 

[depplep]

I appreciate this review, our first NCL cruise is on Encore in October. I'm glad to hear the food is better than Royal in your opinion and I am not a meat eater so glad to hear about all the seafood. 

[corman-cruise]

On 5/5/2023 at 12:45 PM, IrieBajan54 said:

Great review! I was on your cruise but in steerage.🙂 Just so happens that I am one of those who prefer seafood. Went to both Ocean Blue and Cagney's twice and yes, I ate seafood in both places, LOL. However, I don't eat tilapia and that was available too many days for lunch in the Garden Cafe.

 

As for music, I enjoyed Full Coverage in the Atrium and by the pool.

 

I've been cruising for something like 27 years and the disembarkation in LA was the worst ever. Never seen anything like it before. It took at least two hours to get out of the terminal. Luckily, my flight home was after 4:00 p.m.

I was on this same cruise, disembarkaction was indeed 2 hour line. 

[Sydneyberlin]

Oh yea, disembarkation was a total mess. Are the facilities always THAT bad in LA I wonder? It was basically a giant shed with fences inside. Chaotic, stressful, mad.

[IrieBajan54]

12 hours ago, Sydneyberlin said:

Oh yea, disembarkation was a total mess. Are the facilities always THAT bad in LA I wonder? It was basically a giant shed with fences inside. Chaotic, stressful, mad.

Well, based on recent reviews, the terminal leaves a lot to be desired. After finishing with the custom officer, I asked where was the restroom. It turns out to be a port-o-potty to the left of the exit door. I've never used a portable toilet before so simply waited until my shuttle got to the airport. Third World cruise terminals I have visited put LA to shame.

[cruiseny4life]

35 minutes ago, IrieBajan54 said:

Well, based on recent reviews, the terminal leaves a lot to be desired. After finishing with the custom officer, I asked where was the restroom. It turns out to be a port-o-potty to the left of the exit door. I've never used a portable toilet before so simply waited until my shuttle got to the airport. Third World cruise terminals I have visited put LA to shame.

Portable toilet? Like, one of these? 

 

 

You've never used one? Like, ever? I mean, I know you got a lot of sagebrush to hide behind in North Texas, but really? Never? 

[IrieBajan54]

9 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Portable toilet? Like, one of these? 

 

 

You've never used one? Like, ever? I mean, I know you got a lot of sagebrush to hide behind in North Texas, but really? Never? 

Never! Why do you find it out of the ordinary? And before you asked, I did not attend Woodstock. 🤣

[cruiseny4life]

1 minute ago, IrieBajan54 said:

Never! Why do you find it out of the ordinary? And before you asked, I did not attend Woodstock. 🤣

I....well, I'm just surprised! I figured it was a rite of passage to use one. Haha, could you imagine the aftermath of Woodstock? Eeek! 

 

Well, I can now say I've met someone who hasn't used one. BTW, to your point, the Port of LA should do better. 

[BirdTravels]

We got off the ship as the OP boarded. Yeah,,, being down at Terminal E was bad, especially since a lot of our cruise had cars parked at Terminal B. But, NCL was unwilling to give up one week of Caribbean cruises at the end of spring break, so both the Encore and Escape were competing for the NCL terminal and the Encore lost.  
 

For us, we had a wonderful time engaging with the crew for our 1 week Eastern Caribbean adventure. They were all up beat and willing to spend a few minutes chatting. 
 

We were not in the Haven, down in steerage, but we were well treated and felt like the crew was working to make our cruise wonderful. We had many interactions with the crew and senior officers. 
 

We sail a lot on NCL and Royal and our cruise was one of the better ones recently. 
 

Kinky Boots,,, we saw it once in 2019 and that was more than enough. No need to see that again. From candid conversations we had with a few on the ship, the cast was very high maintenance and the show closing early was a good thing. 

[Panhandle Couple]

On 5/7/2023 at 4:22 PM, Linsuesue said:

We were on this cruise too, and similarly disappointed with the entertainment. We saw Choir of Man once, enjoyed it and moved on. The mentalist, magician, and juggler were at best mildly entertaining. The Nashville Tenors were good but there was no Wow Factor show that used to set NCL apart from the other cruise lines.  The day of the first port, people going on excursions were directed to go to the theater. That was a cluster of major proportions! A woman on a mike standing in front of a stage reading one or 2 numbers at a time that were for excursions lining up was ridiculous. Everyone was instructed to come in and take a seat, but the theater was full. One aisle was full of people for some excursions being released from the back of the theater. The other aisle was full of people lining up to get released from the front of the theater. Lines in the hallway to the theater were backed up the staircases and the elevator entryways. Disembarkation was the worst I have every experienced in 16 cruises. Because our NCL booked air fare had us leaving at 7:00 pm, we booked the Los Angeles 5 hour excursion. Because of the mess of debarkation, our bus left 1 1/2 hours late. The Los Angeles excursion group had to have 4 bus loads of people crammed in Los Lobos. Once they released us to go get our luggage and go to the buses, all of the hallways, elevators and staircases were loaded with people. We had to go down a floor to the Manhattan to exit-why didnt they just have us line up in the Manhattan to begin with? The luggage tags for our excursion were black. Once we got down to the terminal we discovered that black tags were used for more than one group! Black VIP and Black Tour tags. Why would one color be used for more than one group? There was such a small group of customs officials to release everyone! I think there were 6. The lines through the terminal were split in 2 so there were only 3 customs officials for each line. After us, there was somebody who passed out waiting for so long at the curb for their shuttle to the airport. Some people just gave up and called an Uber because there were not enough shuttle buses to handle that crowd. I was traveling with a group of 30 people. Thanks to NCL Air department, 8 of our people were flown to Ft. Lauderdale instead of Miami. Thanks to the flooding there, a whole new set of problems were created. None of the 30 would ever use that NCL airfare program again.  I would NEVER book another cruise that begins or ends in Los Angeles either. 

I believe there was another canal cruise that ended up in LA over the winter months.  The same problem on disembarkation was also noted.  Others stated that because you stop in Columbia and Panama (known as drug running countries) the ship passengers and their luggage get extra attention in LA, causing delays and long lines.

 

NCL can request additional customs agents, but that is up to ICE for staffing.  As they say, write your congress person.

[Linsuesue]

1 hour ago, Panhandle Couple said:

I believe there was another canal cruise that ended up in LA over the winter months.  The same problem on disembarkation was also noted.  Others stated that because you stop in Columbia and Panama (known as drug running countries) the ship passengers and their luggage get extra attention in LA, causing delays and long lines.

 

NCL can request additional customs agents, but that is up to ICE for staffing.  As they say, write your congress person.

Maybe the luggage got extra attention, but it was already inspected and piled up downstairs when we got there. The customs agent spent about a minute going over our 2 passports so no extra time there. NCL could address it by letting people off in waves or staggering the throngs that hit the terminal at once. I realize the port staff were not NCL people, and port protocols are their own. NCL needs to address what they can do to streamline the process. It is another instance where people dont wait their turn to exit the ship, and NCL has no control over it. Why have a color coded system when everybody does what they feel like? Implement a system that can be enforced. 

[fstuff1]

On 5/5/2023 at 3:45 PM, IrieBajan54 said:

I've been cruising for something like 27 years and the disembarkation in LA was the worst ever. Never seen anything like it before. It took at least two hours to get out of the terminal. Luckily, my flight home was after 4:00 p.m.

 

On 5/7/2023 at 5:22 PM, Linsuesue said:

 Disembarkation was the worst I have every experienced in 16 cruises. Because our NCL booked air fare had us leaving at 7:00 pm, we booked the Los Angeles 5 hour excursion. Because of the mess of debarkation, our bus left 1 1/2 hours late. The Los Angeles excursion group had to have 4 bus loads of people crammed in Los Lobos. Once they released us to go get our luggage and go to the buses, all of the hallways, elevators and staircases were loaded with people. We had to go down a floor to the Manhattan to exit-why didnt they just have us line up in the Manhattan to begin with? The luggage tags for our excursion were black. Once we got down to the terminal we discovered that black tags were used for more than one group! Black VIP and Black Tour tags. Why would one color be used for more than one group? There was such a small group of customs officials to release everyone! I think there were 6. The lines through the terminal were split in 2 so there were only 3 customs officials for each line. After us, there was somebody who passed out waiting for so long at the curb for their shuttle to the airport. Some people just gave up and called an Uber because there were not enough shuttle buses to handle that crowd. I was traveling with a group of 30 people. Thanks to NCL Air department, 8 of our people were flown to Ft. Lauderdale instead of Miami. Thanks to the flooding there, a whole new set of problems were created. None of the 30 would ever use that NCL airfare program again.  I would NEVER book another cruise that begins or ends in Los Angeles either. 

 

I was on the Bliss mexican Rivera cruise in March.The cruise was full because (unbeknownst to me)  it was spring break. 

debarkation was easy peasy. facial recognition machines was used. 
There were like a handful of people in front of me for like a 1min wait. 

And this ship had 4k pax.

 

Now the cruise before mine was a cluster like yours.
That cruise started somewhere else and ended in LA.

No facial recognition machines. Lines and 2+ hrs waits galore. 

 

It seems like facial recognition isn't used at that port if cruises don't start AND end in LA.

No idea why.

 

[MSUjohn]

5 hours ago, IrieBajan54 said:

I've never used a portable toilet before

how is that even possible? i am not joking.

4 hours ago, IrieBajan54 said:

Never! Why do you find it out of the ordinary?

because it IS out of the ordinary.

[Linsuesue]

5 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

 

I was on the Bliss mexican Rivera cruise in March.The cruise was full because (unbeknownst to me)  it was spring break. 

debarkation was easy peasy. facial recognition machines was used. 
There were like a handful of people in front of me for like a 1min wait. 

And this ship had 4k pax.

 

Now the cruise before mine was a cluster like yours.
That cruise started somewhere else and ended in LA.

No facial recognition machines. Lines and 2+ hrs waits galore. 

 

It seems like facial recognition isn't used at that port if cruises don't start AND end in LA.

No idea why.

 

There are so many large cruise ships around now that it seems like a more streamlined system should have been refined and shared by the ports and cruise lines. Pre Covid, the port of Seattle had a service called Port Valet. We set our big luggage out in the hallway with the proper tags. The service was free, and the suitcases were taken directly to the airport for the guests. I set the suitcases out in the hallway the night before disembarking and then picked it up next at the carousel at my destination. What a great way to get the luggage out of the way for the disembarkation day. I would happily pay for that service at every port, if they would only contract to do that again!

[Sydneyberlin]

I had almost forgotten- here are some recent menus from our trip which might be of interest to anyone cruising soon.

 

Bar menus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sydneyberlin]

And some MDR menus past day 7:

 

 

 

[beachmiker]

This was my third NCL cruise. and my second time on the Encore.

I thought the food was really good. The Reuban sandwich in the Local was the bomb, as unhealthy as it was...lol

I had great bar service at every bar I visited. Which were too many.

 

I enjoyed all the entertainment.and shows, however i missed the comedians by some strange reason. 

 

Had so much fun dancing up on the pool deck. Haven't danced that much in 30 years!  Sock Hop, Disco Night and a few more!

One small criticism though. Was it me, or did anyone else feel like the Sandbar gift  shop and Duty Free were less than polite? Three times I visited and every time the crew members were a little less than helpful. Even tried to over charge me for two bottles of Scotch I purchased.

 

My Specialty Restaurants in order of preference were:

 

Onda

Le Bistro

Ocean Blue

Cagney's

Teppanyaki

 

Again, overall I had the best Cruise I've ever taken. Maybe owing to the 15 days. More likely the wonder people I met while aboard the Ship as well as the excursions.

[Sydneyberlin]

Totally agree on Onda- loved that restaurant! It seems to be a bit decisive amongst cruisers but I think it comes down to expectations- if you expect a more “traditional” take on Italian restaurants with Venice wall papers and faux Roman busts, then you’ll be disappointed. It’s a very modern and, as we thought, refreshing take on “Italian” cuisine and we absolutely loved both the atmosphere and, of course, the food!