An encore cruise on the Encore August 27-September 3 2023. A live trip report!

[justhappy]

2 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

1,000 pounds of bacon a day? I shouldn't be surprised....but I am! WOW! I'm a little surprised by the almond croissant answer, but hey if outsourcing creates such a spectacular product then who am I to ask. Did they say just that croissant or all croissants? That would be a lot of laminating if all the other croissants are made onboard! 

Sorry about the awkwardness of your meal. I hate when that happens as well. The pork looks like it was cooked properly, just devoid of spices. Alas, cooking for the masses eh? 

Cooking for the masses is my thought exactly. We have a daughter who lives in south Florida and the delicious Cuban dishes there have us spoiled I guess. The pork was juicy and tender,  but the only flavor was from some pickled onions on top.

To me the black beans could have used more flavor as well.

Apparently the other baked goods are done on the ship, according to the chef during the galley portion of the tour.

Someone from the Haven asked about the almond ones and that’s when he said they were purchased.

I was shocked by the amount of bacon, not gonna lie. 

2 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

I love those sweet plantains!    Just can't get them until I go to Miami or on a cruise.

I have been known to ask for them as a side dish along with my Reuben or Chicken salad sandwich.  

Thanks for that excellent suggestion!

[justhappy]

After my unexpected snooze fest, we headed to an early dinner at Los Lobos. 
   I made a 5:30pm reservation as we had reservations for The Choir of Man at 7:30 and wanted to be at the theater when the doors opened at 7pm.

 We were seated right away and had a nice table a a window although not to much to see due to low clouds.

 I ordered the Poblano Relleno and DH the Mahi Mahi tacos, as well as a side of street corn.

We split the queso fundito and the table side guacamole.

 We both ordered the specialty margaritas. These were a bit sweet but delicious.

I love rellenos and order them whenever I see them on the menu. I like to keep them simple though with a cheese stuffing and a red chili sauce. I’m partial to the types of rellenos you get in New Mexico at New Mexican restaurants with local northern New Mexican food. If you’ve been to Santa Fe or Albuquerque 

you may know the type I’m talking about.    
  I can handle heat, and the poblano pepper itself is not spicy, but the stuffing in this was off the charts. I’m not sure what it was stuffed with but I couldn’t eat it. Not to worry though as I was already pretty full with the fundido and the guacamole and some of my beans and rice that were sides with the entree.

The food was good, not outstanding.

We did also order and eat the Bunuelos with guava dipping sauce. These were yummy.

[depplep]

I am so happy I found this review! We are sailing for our first time on NCL/Encore/Alaska on October 22. Coming in a day early to Seattle. So excited!

[justhappy]

33 minutes ago, depplep said:

I am so happy I found this review! We are sailing for our first time on NCL/Encore/Alaska on October 22. Coming in a day early to Seattle. So excited!

I’m excited for you! You’ll have a great time. The Encore is an awesome ship.

[depplep]

Don't go out of  your way, but if you happen to notice can you report back on what champagne they have on board? Wondering if they replaced the Veuve with another brut or are they still using a Rose.

[amygutman]

5 hours ago, justhappy said:

So the Behind the scenes tour was highly impressive, 1000 lbs of bacon a day!

And all those Haven fans of the almond croissants, we learned they are not made on the ship but purchased from an outside source. 
I wonder who?!

Does @Sthrngary know this? Good lord…. That croissant-loving gentle statesman will be buying stock in the bakery company!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Warmest, Amy

[BunnyHutt]

Following along - we sail in 19 days. 😀

[efuzz]

Thanks for the live review. We will be waiting to board when you disembark!

[justhappy]

18 hours ago, depplep said:

Don't go out of  your way, but if you happen to notice can you report back on what champagne they have on board? Wondering if they replaced the Veuve with another brut or are they still using a Rose.

From what I’ve seen it’s still the Rose.

[justhappy]

17 hours ago, amygutman said:

Does @Sthrngary know this? Good lord…. That croissant-loving gentle statesman will be buying stock in the bakery company!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Warmest, Amy

True!

[justhappy]

We made to the the theater before the doors opened and there was already a serious line of people on both the left and right entrances.

The great reviews of this show have obviously gotten out.

I have been raving about this show since I saw it on a preview cruise in November of 2019.

My DH was frustrated because on several cruises the show was canceled for a variety of reasons. He finally saw in on the Escape in January of this year. 
As expected, he loved it and could not stop talking it up to our friends.

We had good seats about 10 rows back in the middle left.

It was an outstanding performance and the harmonies were spot on, Our friend who has been a musician all his life was clapping and cheering.

After it was over he said it was the best show he’s ever seen, and he’s seen a lot.

He said we didn’t oversell it.

 

Folks, it’s that good.

Edited August 30, 2023 by justhappy

[depplep]

30 minutes ago, justhappy said:

From what I’ve seen it’s still the Rose.

Bummer. Thanks.

[ellenw]

7 hours ago, justhappy said:

We made to the the theater before the doors opened and there was already a serious line of people on both the left and right entrances.

The great reviews of this show have obviously gotten out.

I have been raving about this show since I saw it on a preview cruise in November of 2019.

My DH was frustrated because on several cruises the show was canceled for a variety of reasons. He finally saw in on the Escape in January of this year. 
As expected, he loved it and could not stop talking it up to our friends.

We had good seats about 10 rows back in the middle left.

It was an outstanding performance and the harmonies were spot on, Our friend who has been a musician all his life was clapping and cheering.

After it was over he said it was the best show he’s ever seen, and he’s seen a lot.

He said we didn’t oversell it.

 

Folks, it’s that good.

My DH doesn't "do shows". But, we somehow talked him into trying Choir of Man. Made sure he had the end seat so he could leave if he wanted. Not only did he enjoy it immensely, he insisted we go again on the second leg of our B2B!

[justhappy]

  I’m sorry I’m so behind but we have done so many excursions the last two days I haven’t kept up! I’ll do better.

After The Choir of Man I headed back to the room and ended up updating this trip report before heading to bed. The guys head to a bar for a nightcap. We set our clocks back one hour to match Alaska time.

 

Tuesday morning we were up again at 5 am! We still haven’t adjusted to the time change, ugh.

It has worked in our favor though as after we shower and dress we are at Starbucks at 6 am then pop up to the Local by 6:10. It still amazes us that on a ship with 4500 passengers it is so empty and quiet at 6:30.

Today breakfast was French toast for me and pancakes for DH. Of course I had to add a side of hash browns.😁

 

[justhappy]

Today is Juneau and we have the Mendenhall Glacier and Evening Whale Quest excursion scheduled.

Since the ship doesn’t arrive in Juneau till  3pm according to the daily we spend the morning walking on deck 8 then hanging out in the Observation lounge with our friends talking and watching for whales.

We were rewarded with so many whale sightings that after and hour and a half we basically just stopped looking!

It was like a whale super highway in both sides of the ship. Although I wasn’t fast enough to get any photos, it was amazing.

 

[justhappy]

We decided to head up to the buffet for lunch knowing that we wouldn’t be back in the ship for dinner. At 11:30 we were amazed that the buffet was not that busy. We were expecting pandemonium, frankly. 
 I lucked out as the buffet had Palak Paneer and freshly made nann bread.

NCL always has the best Indian food on the buffet.

We got some ice cream and took it back to the room to enjoy on our balcony.

[justhappy]

Around 1pm we walked a few laps around the waterfront as we approached Juneau and soon saw the Bliss departing and heading our way.

As she passed there was lots of shouting and cheering between the passengers on the two ships.

[justhappy]

We must have arrived a bit early as we were docked and allowed to disembark shortly after 2pm.

We were to meet in the parking lot of the port at 3:45, so we hurried off the ship to head into Juneau to purchase some Huckleberry treats for DH. There was already a long line for the shuttle into town so we walked it and were there in 23 minutes.

5 other ships were in port and it was extremely busy.

We knew exactly where the huckleberry treats were and were in and out in 5 minutes.

We walked back along the waterfront area so I could visit my favorite monument in Juneau, to Patsy Ann the dog.

Luckly on the way back to the port we caught a shuttle back to the ship with no waiting.

Back on the ship we deposited our purchases and were back out to our tour bus with plenty of time to spare.

Edited August 31, 2023 by justhappy

[cruiseny4life]

What a great experience to not notice the whales after awhile! That happened to me with moose and eagles when I traveled to Anchorage. The road to Fairbanks had so many moose, we just stopped being excited about them. They're still really cool to see despite being everywhere! 

 

The story of Patsy Ann is so sweet. What a pup! And a city folk that allowed a dog to be a dog. I know it was nearly 100 years ago, but we need more places that allow dogs to roam as they're supposed to. She sure was a special one!

 

Please, don't be sorry for your well-earned vacation taking precedence over this review. We might be wondering where the heck @justhappy is, but we know you're having a great time! Update when you can, if you want to. We'll take what you give us and be just happy with it (had to) #teamhashbrowns

[justhappy]

7 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

What a great experience to not notice the whales after awhile! That happened to me with moose and eagles when I traveled to Anchorage. The road to Fairbanks had so many moose, we just stopped being excited about them. They're still really cool to see despite being everywhere! 

 

The story of Patsy Ann is so sweet. What a pup! And a city folk that allowed a dog to be a dog. I know it was nearly 100 years ago, but we need more places that allow dogs to roam as they're supposed to. She sure was a special one!

 

Please, don't be sorry for your well-earned vacation taking precedence over this review. We might be wondering where the heck @justhappy is, but we know you're having a great time! Update when you can, if you want to. We'll take what you give us and be just happy with it (had to) #teamhashbrowns

Thank you @cruiseny4life

I agree about the town being gracious about Patsy Ann. Only some small towns do that anymore.

The whales were like bison in Yellowstone, everywhere!

#teamhashbrowns!

 

[justhappy]

Once we boarded the tour bus, our first destination was Mendenhall Glacier.

We had a great bus driver/tour guide ~Keegan~
who had us laughing with his witty tales and observations about Juneau.
Please google the story of Alaska Airline’s jet, the Salmon 30 Salmon.

After a short drive to the park we had slightly over an hour to spend before we had to be back to the bus for our Whale Watching portion.

Having been to Mendenhall Glacier in 2015 with my Dad and sisters I knew we didn’t have time to do the visitor center and do the Nugget Falls trail. I made the decision that I thought my husband would enjoy the most and we did the trail.

It was a nice day, meaning not raining, 

and we had a most enjoyable walk to the falls and back. We also had time to visit a scenic spot and check out some salmon in a small pond. Keegan told us a 

great but sad story about Romeo the wolf who is immortalized in the plaque on the trail.

Although it was a short time there we enjoyed every second. 

[justhappy]

After a scenic drive with Keegan telling us about Juneau and his life, boy he was such a good sport and fielded questions from dozens of old geezers! Soon we were at Auke Bay.

The tour boat was nice with two stories, lots of bench seats and seats with tables. A cash bar and snacks for purchase. There were three bathrooms and big wide windows to take in the views.

A small buffet of salmon dip, salmon chowder, cold shrimp, cheeses and veggies was included.

After a short safety briefing we were on our way. 
My skills at capturing whales in photos is horrible so I’ve added a few whale tale photos to prove we did see whales😂The included buffet feast.

We saw orcas along with humpbacks and a very pretty sunset.

After a few hours of touring around we were back at the dock then back on the bus to the port. 
It was 9:30 pm when we were back to the ship and my Fitbit said we had done 17,000 steps. 
I was in bed by 10pm and I think I blinked and was asleep in 10 seconds.

Good thing too as we plan to get up early and off the ship in Skagway the next day.

Edited August 31, 2023 by justhappy

[justhappy]

We were up bright and early at Skagway thanks to still not adjusting to the time changes. The ship is docking when we look out the balcony.
Showered and dressed we were at Starbucks when they opened at 6am with just a few other passengers.

The crew at Starbucks remember our names and our orders every morning. A shout out to Earl who has a smile and good morning welcome for everyone.

We pop up to deck 7 to the Local for breakfast and there are a few more folks here at 6:15. 

DH has the full English breakfast and I have the American breakfast with a side of bacon. Apparently 6 strips of bacon is a side. No wonder they go through a 1000 lbs a day!

And of course hash browns

#teamhashbrown

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 31, 2023 by justhappy

[amygutman]

17 hours ago, justhappy said:

Once we boarded the tour bus, our first destination was Mendenhall Glacier.

We had a great bus driver/tour guide ~Keegan~
who had us laughing with his witty tales and observations about Juneau.
Please google the story of Alaska Airline’s jet, the Salmon 30 Salmon.

After a short drive to the park we had slightly over an hour to spend before we had to be back to the bus for our Whale Watching portion.

Having been to Mendenhall Glacier in 2015 with my Dad and sisters I knew we didn’t have time to do the visitor center and do the Nugget Falls trail. I made the decision that I thought my husband would enjoy the most and we did the trail.

It was a nice day, meaning not raining, 

and we had a most enjoyable walk to the falls and back. We also had time to visit a scenic spot and check out some salmon in a small pond. Keegan told us a 

great but sad story about Romeo the wolf who is immortalized in the plaque on the trail.

Although it was a short time there we enjoyed every second. 

What a beautiful array of photos. Thank you so much...my heart is so full right now!

Warmest Amy

[justhappy]

6 minutes ago, amygutman said:

What a beautiful array of photos. Thank you so much...my heart is so full right now!

Warmest Amy

Thank you for the kind words Amy❤️