**Live from the NCL Encore** July 21-28, 2024: Alaskan Cruise Itinerary

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

38 minutes ago, zqvol said:

It’s on the Cagney’s menu and occasionally in the main dining room. 

Thank you! 

 

I don't remember which night but we have Cagney's booked later this week so at least I know I'll get it once!

[vacation44]

5 hours ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

One consideration with NCL, there are four pools onboard:

 

- Two on Deck 16, one which is kid-friendly and another that is adults-only 

 

- One for Vibe (adults-only and $250/person) 

 

- One for the Haven

 

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Of those four, our kids are only allowed at one of them (and there's nothing indoors for them on an Alaskan cruise).

 

For some of you this may be a positive, but for a family like us, this is a pretty big negative. 

 

NCL has a lot of other things for kids, but it's surprising that they don't offer more for kids in terms of pools.

There is no pool in the Vibe.  The Encore Vibe has two hot tubs.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

4 hours ago, vacation44 said:

There is no pool in the Vibe.  The Encore Vibe has two hot tubs.

Good to know, thanks. 

 

Doesn't change how many pools are available to kids but still worth knowing!

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

I woke up at 4:30am to use the bathroom and decided to take one for the team and head up to the Observation Lounge.

 

I wasn't sure if there would still be seats available and the best ones were definitely taken (I felt like I was on the Lido Deck on a sea day with so many seats reserved with towels and nobody in sight to go with them) but I was able to find a spot on the starboard side that was open. They're not couches so I can't lie down unfortunately but we'll make things work.

 

My wife and kids will probably still be asleep another 2-3 hours but I'm happy I was able to get us seats. 

 

I'm sure we will use our room balcony at some point so we can hear the ice calving and any other sounds, but at least we'll be warm most of the day. 

 

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Our seats are the ones on the right side of the picture.

 

 

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Hopefully the fog clears up sometime soon: 

 

 

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Our location as of 5:30am:

 

Edited July 25 by FamilyAtSea.travel

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Looks like CC flipped my last picture upside down and I missed my edit window... Why does CC do that with some pictures? 

 

🤷‍♂️

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Promptly at 7:30am a Park Ranger started talking to us here in the Observation Lounge, right as the fog lifted and we started being able to see the beginning of Glacier Bay's beauty. 

 

I'm sure I'll be sharing lots of posts of GB today as we sail through so hopefully that won't be annoying to those of you following! 

 

I believe the best views will be around 9-10am local time from what they've said so far.

 

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Passing Gloomy Knob on the Starboard side of the ship: 

 

[Maleficent's Dad]

Chogs in the OL.

Wow.🤦‍♂️

[Go2SeaTheWorld]

38 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

Promptly at 7:30am a Park Ranger started talking to us here in the Observation Lounge, right as the fog lifted and we started being able to see the beginning of Glacier Bay's beauty. 

 

I'm sure I'll be sharing lots of posts of GB today as we sail through so hopefully that won't be annoying to those of you following! 

 

I believe the best views will be around 9-10am local time from what they've said so far.

 

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Passing Gloomy Knob on the Starboard side of the ship: 

 

Thank you for sharing. Excited to see the pics!  Our cruise on the Bliss was bound for the Hubbard Glacier, but didn't even make it halfway through the passage due to all the "chunks".

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

4 minutes ago, Go2SeaTheWorld said:

Thank you for sharing. Excited to see the pics!  Our cruise on the Bliss was bound for the Hubbard Glacier, but didn't even make it halfway through the passage due to all the "chunks".

None of the reactions seem to fit here, so I'll just say...

 

I'm sorry 😞 

 

I'm grateful we are getting good weather to sail through today.

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

I'm sure I'll be sharing lots of posts of GB today as we sail through so hopefully that won't be annoying to those of you following! 

 

I don't mind one bit!! 🙂

[Manchester is blue]

My wife and I are following your posts avidly. We depart for the US this weekend and are sailing to Alaska on the Sun on the 2nd August so it’s great to see what Alaska may  have in store for us. Thanks for your posts.

[medicalma'am]

Wow.  Towels on chairs in OL?????  I would not 'honor' but watch for several minutes in case someone reserving that seat was in the restroom.  I would then just move the towel and take my seat.  

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

We're currently sailing through the Tarr Inlet and passing by Margerie Glacier.

 

I made my way down to the bow of the ship on Deck 8 to take a look and it is completely amazing. 

 

I was by myself for this but in an hour or so we will be heading to the Johns Hopkins Glacier to our west (via another inlet) and when we're there I'll make sure my wife and kids join me. 

 

The 270 degree views just make you feel completely immersed in one of God's most incredible creations (similar to what you feel when you experience the Grand Canyon for the first time if you've been there).

 

My only disappointment (and it's not a major one) is that I guess due to the time of year, we have not seen/heard any glacier calving. 

 

The views though are incredible, both of the glaciers, but also the wildlife. We've seen Killer Whales, otters, humpback whales, bald eagles, and all sorts of others.

 

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Entrance to the Observation Lounge on Deck 15:

 

 

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Map of Glacier Bay (we're currently at the northernmost Tarr Inlet @ Margerie Glacier):

 

 

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Posing with the Margerie Glacier from the Bow of the Ship:

 

 

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A look at the Forward of the Ship from the Bow:

 

 

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Looking Down at the Bow from the Forward of the Observation Lounge:

 

 

 

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Food and Refreshments Available in the Observation Lounge:

 

 

 

 

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Bar of the Observation Lounge:

 

 

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If you didn't bring binoculars, they have some available for purchase:

 

 

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Park Ranger Booth Setup with Items for Purchase (and you can ask questions):

 

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

20 minutes ago, medicalma'am said:

Wow.  Towels on chairs in OL?????  I would not 'honor' but watch for several minutes in case someone reserving that seat was in the restroom.  I would then just move the towel and take my seat.  

I thought about it and if I didn't find a decent spot I may have gone that route, but I found the last available seats in front of a window (that weren't plastic chairs) so I figured a bird in the hand...

[medicalma'am]

2 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

I thought about it and if I didn't find a decent spot I may have gone that route, but I found the last available seats in front of a window (that weren't plastic chairs) so I figured a bird in the hand...

Yes, of course.  Hopefully this issue will not be a problem on our upcoming cruises as we will be in the Haven.  I am now reading your "Haven Secrets" thread...

 

Thanks for doing it!

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Some more random shots of Glacier Bay so far: 

 

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Margerie Glacier:

 

 

 

 

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Seal on a Chunk of Ice:

 

 

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A Couple of (Not Great) Shots of Killer Whales:

 

 

 

Edited July 25 by FamilyAtSea.travel

[Ellis1138]

NCL does have creme brulee in the MDR at lunch every other day, some nights at MDR and a nutella one on one night and on occasion, the buffet has something like that.

 

You could always ask for a creme brulee and see if they have one, when you're in the mood.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

We are now slowly making our way out of Glacier Bay with this incredible experience coming to a close. 

 

Amazingly I've seen a couple people only just now waking from their slumbers having missed this. 

 

I know we all cruise for different reasons and get different things out of it, but I would be so disappointed had I missed this. 

 

Johns Hopkins Glacier appeared to be larger than Margerie Glacier but we couldn't get as close out of respect for the habitat of the local seal pups.

 

I took my daughter down to the bow and then made our way back so my wife could go down with our son (without losing our seats in the Observation Lounge).

 

The Park Ranger is wrapping up their program as we leave the area. 

 

The first two days in Alaska were a bust but this was definitely a moment to remember. 

 

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Johns Hopkins Glacier:

 

 

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Down on the Bow:

 

 

 

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Uncruise's SS Wilderness Legacy

 

 

 

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Scaled Replica of the Norwegian Encore at the Port-side Entrance to the Observation Lounge:

 

 

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Goodbye Glacier Bay!:

 

 

 

[cruiseny4life]

7 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

We are now slowly making our way out of Glacier Bay with this incredible experience coming to a close. 

 

Amazingly I've seen a couple people only just now waking from their slumbers having missed this. 

 

I know we all cruise for different reasons and get different things out of it, but I would be so disappointed had I missed this. 

 

Johns Hopkins Glacier appeared to be larger than Margerie Glacier but we couldn't get as close out of respect for the habitat of the local seal pups.

 

I took my daughter down to the bow and then made our way back so my wife could go down with our son (without losing our seats in the Observation Lounge).

 

The Park Ranger is wrapping up their program as we leave the area. 

 

The first two days in Alaska were a bust but this was definitely a moment to remember. 

 

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Johns Hopkins Glacier:

 

 

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Down on the Bow:

 

 

 

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Uncruise's SS Wilderness Legacy

 

 

 

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Scaled Replica of the Norwegian Encore at the Port-side Entrance to the Observation Lounge:

 

 

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Goodbye Glacier Bay!:

 

 

 

What an amazing experience in that landscape for your children! Those photos will survive for a long time in your family's memories. From a selfish perspective, I so appreciate you showing a photo with Uncruise's ship. An Uncruise cruise to Alaska is my absolute dream! 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

6 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

What an amazing experience in that landscape for your children! Those photos will survive for a long time in your family's memories. From a selfish perspective, I so appreciate you showing a photo with Uncruise's ship. An Uncruise cruise to Alaska is my absolute dream! 

 

I was looking them up myself after seeing their ship.

 

It's definitely a different experience but it looks like something we'd enjoy and $5k/person for an Alaskan cruise isn't bad for what you get. 

 

We will add them to our growing list of cruises we'd like to experience!

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

As Glacier Bay winds down, we'll soon grab some lunch and figure out what else we'd like to do today.

 

The Go-Karts are open for double riders from 3-4:30pm so we'll likely do that (drivers must be 55" tall and my son is only 52").

 

We have Cagney's for dinner this evening which we're all looking forward to (my kids enjoy a good steak as much as I do).

 

Tomorrow we're doing a flightseeing tour in Ketchikan on a seaplane to a fjord.

 

This won't be as exciting as the helicopter ride to a glacier with dogsledding would have been, but it will still at least be a memorable experience for my children (and for us parents, too).

 

Other things remaining to do on this trip: 

 

- Grab a drink in The District Brewhouse

- Catch a comedy show at Social

- Watch The Beatles at The Cavern Club (we saw them in the Encore Theater on night 1 but would like to see them in the smaller venue as well) 

- + anything else we may find!

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Before I forget, here is Day 5's Freestyle Daily!

 

free-style-daily.pdf

[KittyCruz]

On 7/22/2024 at 12:27 PM, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

I know the audience on CC tends to skew older but we're a family sailing with young kids (as the name suggests) so the Kids Clubs and family activities are important to us, so I'll be sharing information about those. 

 

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Splash Academy (kids club for 3-12 year olds)

 

The very first thing we did yesterday when we boarded the ship was make our way to the Kids Club. 

 

Not because we were dropping our kids off, but because we know during open house on embarkation day is our only opportunity to grab footage of the kids clubs (before there are kids having fun in them).

 

Registration was already ongoing when we got there and even though we were the second boarding group (after ADA and I assume Haven), we were 4th in line to register. 

 

Their registration process seemed overly cumbersome compared to other cruise lines and even though there were only 3 families in front of us, it took us 15 minutes to be called up for our own registration. 

 

During this process they seat you at a kiddie table to discuss things and complete the sign off process and I suspect maybe some of those 3 moms in front of us were the type with a hundred questions as we were only at the table around 3 minutes and the ones in front of us were there quite a bit longer. (we cruise a lot so I'm sure that helps since we know what to expect vs families perhaps cruising for the first time) 

 

They said there are 900-1,000 kids on our sailing and the kids clubs will be pretty full as a result. 

 

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The front lobby area:

 

 

 

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Registration Tables:

 

 

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Other Parts of the Kids Club:

 

 

 

We will be traveling with a group that has kiddos so I appreciate the photos and the information about registration.

[Go2SeaTheWorld]

1 hour ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

Down on the Bow:

 

 

 

---Uncruise's SS Wilderness Legacy

 

 

 

Goodbye Glacier Bay!:

 

 

Particularly love these! Always happy to share in vicariously with fellow cruisers' incredible experiences. Blessings on you & your family for the rest of your trip.

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

We just did the Go-Karts at Encore Speedway. 

 

We did 4 laps and while they're not very fast, they were plenty fast for my daughter who was driving (my son had to ride passenger with my wife who drove theirs).

 

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Long Lines and Upset Guests

 

The posted time for the double carts (required for people under 55", which my son is) was 3-4:30pm and we got in line at 2:45pm.

 

We waited in line for 90 minutes even though we were one of the earlier people in line, which means there's going to be a large number of people who waited in line nearly two hours that don't even get to ride. 

 

People were starting to realize this as we got to the front and were giving the staff an earful. 

 

I talked to the staff and mentioned that maybe a reservation system would be better but they said they did that previously and only half of people with reservations would actually show up so a lot less people would get to ride them than what it could be. 

 

They felt this alternative was better but it means every time they open, there ends up being a lot of upset people who wait in line and don't get to ride them. 

 

If you're planning to do these, get there no less than 15 minutes before the time window opens (and 30 minutes would be better). If you are in the Haven or have the Ultimate Pass you get to skip the line.

 

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A Look at the Long Line (that wraps around the corner):

 

 

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Getting Ready to Race:

 

 

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My Daughter's Game Face as She Races:

 

 

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A Look at the Track from the Kart:

 

 

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Post-Race Exhilaration:

 

Edited July 26 by FamilyAtSea.travel