NCL Encore - April 28 - May 5, 2024 Freestyle Daily

[ImpressedCruiser]

Hi all! 

 

First time cruiser, but managed to book this amazing itinerary thanks to reading all the insightful information and posts from you all on this forum. 

 

Wanted to attach the Freestyle Daily for anyone who is looking at taking the Encore to Alaska and Glacier Bay. I'll try my best to update this thread with new posts throughout the trip. If y'all have any questions, please let me know! 

 

 

Edited April 28 by ImpressedCruiser
adding images

[BirdTravels]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Thank you for the posts. We'll be on the encore in a few months and this is wonderful! Looking forward to your continued posts!

 

Pro Tip: On the NCL App, at the top of the home screen on the right, you can pull up the Freestyle Dailies online (icon kinda looks like a book). You can SEND those PDF files as an email to yourself, or just screen capture each page. Save you a little time from taking a photo and editing. 

[Katnwater]

Thank you!!  I am 42 days out and I am looking forward to any and all info about this season in Alaska!

[ImpressedCruiser]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Thank you for the posts. We'll be on the encore in a few months and this is wonderful! Looking forward to your continued posts!

 

Pro Tip: On the NCL App, at the top of the home screen on the right, you can pull up the Freestyle Dailies online (icon kinda looks like a book). You can SEND those PDF files as an email to yourself, or just screen capture each page. Save you a little time from taking a photo and editing. 

Thank you!! This is super helpful! Will do that for day 2 😄 

[LatinaInTexas]

This is what I have been waiting for! Will be on the Encore in a few weeks on my first Alaska cruise so am looking forward to any and all info.

[Mbcruiser704]

Looking forward to seeing these!

[ImpressedCruiser]

Day 2 - Sea Day - the 'outer passage' via Pacific Ocean that Encore takes is proving to be quite rocky. The boat is moving back and forth quite a bit, and I anticipate it to be like that all the way up to Juneau (day 3). Recommend buying Dramamine or getting your hands on some seasickness meds prior to embarkation. 

 

Side note, I am not sure if the room service rates have changed? It appears that ordering hot food is now $9.95 (I've seen menus where they are $10.95), and all hot food including omelettes are included in the $4.95 breakfast room service fee. 

 

Happy to answer any questions! 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Thank you so much!!  Going in September!

[aroundtheriverbend]

Thank you so much!!  Going in September!  PS - is the escape room still on board?  I see the Galaxy Pavilion but not sure where to look specifically for the escape room.  Thank you!

[ftc24]

Thank you so much.  Our family will be taking this cruise starting next week (May 5th) - we've never cruised before so this is very helpful. Any advice for things I should do in advance?

[jjesq99]

Not to diminish the OP's thread at all (THANK YOU, I WILL BE FOLOOOWING YOUR TRIP< HOPE YOU HAVE A BLAST!!!)...

 

For those of you cruising Alaska on the Encore, check this out from @BirdTravels if you haven't already:

 

 

Chock full of great info... (again in addition to this thread) 🙂 

Edited April 29 by jjesq99
Clarification :)

[Faulkh]

Thank you taking this cruise the end of July, this is most helpful. Enjoy your cruise

[sjack827]

I'm on the May 12th sailing so I cannot express how helpful your posts are.  Do you know the prices for the internet packages?  I see in the daily you posted that they are as low as $109 but I was wondering if there are other prices/levels of service.  I plan on purchasing an internet package onboard after the cruise starts (learned this on my first NCL cruise).   Again, I thank you for this thread.

[KittyCruz]

Enjoy your cruise and thanks for letting us all follow along, we'll be on this later in the year and I am already starting my prep.

 

 

 

 

[ImpressedCruiser]

4 hours ago, aroundtheriverbend said:

Thank you so much!!  Going in September!  PS - is the escape room still on board?  I see the Galaxy Pavilion but not sure where to look specifically for the escape room.  Thank you!

I believe It is still on board! I did ask when I went to the Galaxy Pavilion and they did seem to indicate they still had it. I will go back and double check, if I get a more specific location I will update this post 🙂

[LLBailey]

Thank you so much for doing this!  I hope your trip won't be too disrupted by all the questions we are sure to have 🙂  I thought the American Diner was complimentary, but I see from the Daily that it's marked *charge applies.  Is it complimentary?  Again, thank you!  We sail the first week of June!!!!

[ImpressedCruiser]

4 hours ago, ftc24 said:

Thank you so much.  Our family will be taking this cruise starting next week (May 5th) - we've never cruised before so this is very helpful. Any advice for things I should do in advance?

Amazing! You'll be very pleased with the Encore, and I hope you have a great time as we are! 

 

My recommendation would be to: 

1. Get to the Pier early. Seattle's Pier 66 is quite big and it can be hectic (traffic, people, etc.). They started letting people on around 11:30a,m (ADA, followed by Priority/Statusholders, followed by normal Boarding Groups). We had a check in time of 9:30am-10:00am, were part of boarding group 6, and were on the cruise by about 12:15pm. Contrast this with the time indicated on your e-docs "boarding begins at 12:00pm" - it moves quicker than you'd think. 

2. Go check out the status of your room after you eat somewhere for lunch. Online posts have said rooms were not ready till 2, even sometimes 3pm. We checked out the room after the lunch (approx 1pm) and it was ready (our room was deck 14) ! 

3. Reserve your specialty dining and Choir of Man in advance. There are approximately 4600 people on board our sailing (1700 crew). Reservations go fast. 

4. Buy items to combat motion sickness. The outer passage is very rocky as you have full exposure to the Pacific Ocean and its currents. I am from Canada and they don't sell Dramamine. I arrived a day before to a hotel and ordered via Amazon, but you can pick it up at CVS, etc. if you're already in the US. 

5. Buy or pack binoculars. The ship spends a good 8 hours in Glacier Bay, so it's worth having it on hand to observe any wildlife in the area. 

 

If I think of anything else as the trip goes, I will update this post 🙂 

[ImpressedCruiser]

1 hour ago, sjack827 said:

I'm on the May 12th sailing so I cannot express how helpful your posts are.  Do you know the prices for the internet packages?  I see in the daily you posted that they are as low as $109 but I was wondering if there are other prices/levels of service.  I plan on purchasing an internet package onboard after the cruise starts (learned this on my first NCL cruise).   Again, I thank you for this thread.

 

We were part of Free at Sea where you get 150 free minutes per person, and we waited until 12:01am on 'Day 2' to activate our internet. When you try to set the internet up, you'll be prompted with an upgrade notice with the option of swapping your 150 minutes to unlimited. The difference starts at $79.94 ($179.94 - $100 credit from swapping the FAS 150 minutes) if you activate on Day 2. 

 

We are from Canada and had the ability to use our Canadian plan in the US for free. We found that we had good reception on AT&T or T-Mobile for our data for most of the night on as we were pretty close to land and had no issue waiting until 12:01am to activate the plan for our offers. 

 

If you don't have an internet package, I believe there is also a discount if you wait until Day 2 to sign up. Hope this helps! 

[ImpressedCruiser]

8 minutes ago, LLBailey said:

Thank you so much for doing this!  I hope your trip won't be too disrupted by all the questions we are sure to have 🙂  I thought the American Diner was complimentary, but I see from the Daily that it's marked *charge applies.  Is it complimentary?  Again, thank you!  We sail the first week of June!!!!

It is indeed complementary for the food items! Only thing that isn't are the milkshakes which are $7 😞 

[jcscv]

Thank you for posting all this.  I'll be on this ship next week, so now I can pre-plan what I want to do/see.  Thank you for the details on the wi-fi discounts, I was hoping it would be discounted on day 2.  I'm sure I can live for one day without internet, so I can get a better rate the next day, lol.  Have a great trip,and look forward to reading more about your travels.

 

Edited April 30 by jcscv

[tokidoki]

5 hours ago, ImpressedCruiser said:

Amazing! You'll be very pleased with the Encore, and I hope you have a great time as we are! 

 

My recommendation would be to: 

1. Get to the Pier early. Seattle's Pier 66 is quite big and it can be hectic (traffic, people, etc.). They started letting people on around 11:30a,m (ADA, followed by Priority/Statusholders, followed by normal Boarding Groups). We had a check in time of 9:30am-10:00am, were part of boarding group 6, and were on the cruise by about 12:15pm. Contrast this with the time indicated on your e-docs "boarding begins at 12:00pm" - it moves quicker than you'd think. 

2. Go check out the status of your room after you eat somewhere for lunch. Online posts have said rooms were not ready till 2, even sometimes 3pm. We checked out the room after the lunch (approx 1pm) and it was ready (our room was deck 14) ! 

3. Reserve your specialty dining and Choir of Man in advance. There are approximately 4600 people on board our sailing (1700 crew). Reservations go fast. 

4. Buy items to combat motion sickness. The outer passage is very rocky as you have full exposure to the Pacific Ocean and its currents. I am from Canada and they don't sell Dramamine. I arrived a day before to a hotel and ordered via Amazon, but you can pick it up at CVS, etc. if you're already in the US. 

5. Buy or pack binoculars. The ship spends a good 8 hours in Glacier Bay, so it's worth having it on hand to observe any wildlife in the area. 

 

If I think of anything else as the trip goes, I will update this post 🙂 

Thx so much, as we sail May 12!  U did say 4600 with the crew, or plus the 1700 crew? The thx, it actually makes a big difference if the ship had 4600?  Have a blast and stay safe!

[BirdTravels]

27 minutes ago, tokidoki said:

Thx so much, as we sail May 12!  U did say 4600 with the crew, or plus the 1700 crew? The thx, it actually makes a big difference if the ship had 4600?  Have a blast and stay safe!

Earlier this month, we were on the Encore's last Caribbean cruise with 4900 (1400 of which were young cruisers). 

[tokidoki]

29 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Earlier this month, we were on the Encore's last Caribbean cruise with 4900 (1400 of which were young cruisers). 

Yes! I followed u since I was sailing on the Encore, but I am still confused if there were less than 3000 pax or 4600 + crew?  It’s early to n the season and I am hoping that it’s more like 3000.  

[BirdTravels]

10 minutes ago, tokidoki said:

Yes! I followed u since I was sailing on the Encore, but I am still confused if there were less than 3000 pax or 4600 + crew?  It’s early to n the season and I am hoping that it’s more like 3000.  

 

While your cruise still has a few rooms, the cruise before you and after you are sold out. So 4600 pax seems very reasonable. 

[tokidoki]

3 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

 

While your cruise still has a few rooms, the cruise before you and after you are sold out. So 4600 pax seems very reasonable. 

Wow! Thx