First time NCL cruiser

Item: Norwegian Encore
Rating: 4.3
Author: chascougs

Norwegian Encore Cruise Review

chascougs

Contributor Level: Purser

247 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 43

Overall rating:

4.3 out of 5

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 15, 2019

Ship: Norwegian Encore

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9276

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Would rank this cruise near the top of the nearly 20 cruises I’ve been taken.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Painless

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

For the most part good dining, one night in MDR did not really care for entree. Thought the Local was great. Garden Cafe good for breakfast and lunch, thought dinner was ok. We had 3 SDP and ate at Los Lobos, enjoyed the table side guacamole and apps, thought entrees were ok. Cagney’s was ok...we liked Carnival Steakhouse much more and thought it was equal to Chops on RC. Third meal was at the Teppanyaki, great chef, food was good, heavy sodium content but that’s to be expected at this type of restaurant. Ordered room service once for dinner, was ok. Overall I’d say we enjoyed our lunches at the Local best.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Water slides fun when opened (not NCL fault totally as we had 20+ foot seas on 3 of our days). Go-carts fun one time, same for escape room and laser tag. Pool deck crowded on sea days but no more so than any other ship we’ve sailed. We loved “A Choir of Men” thought “Kinky Boots” was rather boring. Had fun at the Cavern Club watching the Beatles Tribute band ( not sure if we really liked the band or the source material, hard to go wrong with the Beatles catalog).

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Our cabin steward was mostly invisible and had a habit of showing up to make up our cabin right after we returned from a couple hours out and about the ship....almost like he was waiting for us to return so we’d say “don’t worry about it, just give us new towels”. Most bartenders were fast and friendly. Every waitstaff we encountered was friendly as well as all crew cleaning the common areas.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Ship is brand new and smells of fresh paint and carpeting. Thought ship lacks a “WOW” factor of RC ships and Conquest and Dream class ships on CCL. Love the traffic flow on 678, found is strange entering deck 16 from the aft elevators and basically walking in a sterile corridor before you hit the pool deck.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Connecting balcony. Typical of every balcony cabin we’ve sailed. Where this cabin stands out is the size of the balcony. Half is under the balconies above and the other have is uncovered. Wish they placed to loungers instead of the standard reclining chairs.