Fun cruise

Norwegian Encore Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Reviews: 3
Helpful Votes: 73

Overall rating:

4.4 out of 5
Norwegian Encore

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 26, 2020

Ship: Norwegian Encore

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 15250

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

This is my second cruise. The first was with Carnival. I would rate Norwegian higher for food and entertainment. But I the end I enjoyed both cruises

Embarkation

5 out of 5
We paid for priority and it was awesome!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
All food was very good. Great variety. Super service. No long waiting time. We had the drink package and it perfect.

Savor Restaurant - Main Dining Room

5 out of 5

all 3 dinning rooms have the same menu. Good variety each day. The best thing about taste Ana savor is the staff. Every time we were there a manger came to talk to us! The waiter and co waiter were incredibly attentive. Best service ever !

The Local

3 out of 5

Just so so. Food ok. Limited menu. Supposed to be open 24 hrs but in the middle of the night they are cleaning etc.

Los Lobos

5 out of 5

The best food we ate on the ship

Coco’s

5 out of 5

Really good place for desert

Garden Cafe

5 out of 5

As far a buffets go. 5 star. Upon entering everyone must “Washy Washy”. Staff gave you hand sanitizer. Food was good and there was a variety at lunch and dinner.

The Manhattan Room - Main Dining Room

4 out of 5

It is more formal and hosts large groups. Same menu as taste and savor. MoreChaotic.

Q Texas Smokehouse

4 out of 5

Good meat. Again the sides were not to our liking. The county band was terrible.

Cagney's Steakhouse

4 out of 5

Good food and service. The side dishes were not to our liking but the steak was really good

American Diner

4 out of 5

Good food. Good service not expense

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
We had the spa package. The spa in the Encore was incredible. Warming beds, relaxation beds looking out at the ocean, two saunas, snow room, therapy pool with different stations to relax, work on your whole body, back, neck and legs. And and a jacuzzi. We did not use the gym, race cars, pavilion or laser tag. We did do the escape room. Terrific. A lot of fun games at night like group trivia.

Vibe Beach Club

5 out of 5

A must if you want an adult place to hand out. The main deck area is over packed and is heavy with children even in February. The vibe has its own bar. Adult only. Two levels. Two jacuzzi’s. 209$ per person but well with it. We never had to hunt for an open seat. Plenty if room. Good waiter service also

Mandara Spa & Salon

5 out of 5

NCL went way out when making the spa area. OMG. Terrific. Warming beds were not warm enough but they were there along with relaxation beds that faced the ocean. Two saunas. Snow room. Salt room to clear your lungs, and a jacuzzi. It also has a large therapeutic pool. It has a relaxing area. Then areas of water pulses to work on your neck,back, legs, and whole body. They serve water and fruit. Towel service. The best! We had a room on the spa floor. Great service and quiet.

The Marketplace

4 out of 5

Pretty good deals. They did need more T-shirtsAnd jackets. They were almost sold out

Observation Lounge

3 out of 5

The observation lounge was pretty. Many sofa, lounges and chairs. The far side had a bar and it was so noisy and busy with hyper people that we always left.

Entertainment

5 out of 5
The stage shows feature top performers! They were terrific. They had I think 4 musicians. None of them were very good.

Galaxy Pavilion

3 out of 5

This area was not what was expected. Not nearly the large game room as advertised. We did pay for the escape room. We were paired up with 4 other passengers. It was awesome to see 6 people who did not k is each other come together as a team to solve the escape.

Social Comedy and Night Club

4 out of 5

The comedy club was great. One of my favorite things when cruising. I didn’t give it 5 stars because on the Encore the room is very small. All chairs on the same level and uncomfortable. They had a host and two comedians. The host was better than the two headliners. NCL only allows you to book one reservation per headliner. On the upside though all 3 did a finale the last night in the theatre.

Encore Theater

5 out of 5

We saw Kinky Boots and Choir of Men. Reading the bios for the shows NCL went out of their way to have top performers. Both productions were 5 star!

Children's Programs

I did not travel with children

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
The staff was all terrific. Very nice.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Everything on the ship was nice. Only complaint was the location of the smoking areas but it didn’t ruin our cruise.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
We were on the spa floor. Very nice. New. Clean.

Ship tip

Don’t buy the WiFi package. Rarely worked. We came home with almost all 250 minutes we started with.

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

3 out of 5
Miami is horrible. The excursions we paid for sat us down in town for 5 hours. Because of the super bowel we could not partake in the activities.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

1 out of 5
A protest was going on. We were limited to a few streets.

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

4 out of 5
Nice place. But our excursion to the aquarium was just so so.

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

5 out of 5
Our favorite! We took a catamaran to Jost Van Dyke Island. The staff in the catamaran we super nice. The ride was beautiful. The island gives you choices for food and hand out areas. We went to the Soggy Dollar. Awesome. Free chairs and umbrellas. Good food and drinks. Nice souvenir shop. The. Beach was beautiful. Clear blue water. Soft clean sand.

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas

4 out of 5
Fun island. I think when NCL does more work on it I will give it 5 stars. Most everything is free there except alcohol at the taco stand. Your drink package is available at the bar for free drinks. The food was great. Places to eat plus they had a large BBQ. The ocean is rocky. You need swim shoes. The photographers came and took terrific natural pictures.

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
We were with the excursion group for disembarkment. Easy and fast. Organized. Until the end. They toss you out with no explanation of how or where you are picking up your excursion.

Traveler Photos

Spa Jost Van Dyke Island. The Soggy Dollar Snow room Catamaran The new Encore Spa Spa
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3 Comments

Gwbigdog    1 year ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

osubucknuts    4 years ago

Vibe beach club... What time did you get to Port to board the ship? Where did you go to get pass once in ship, as this is different on some of their ships? Was there a smoking area in Vibe? Thanks in advance

Rc45cruise    4 years ago

Well cruise is fantastic and personal too entreteiment good food good but be carefull with drinking package is rare have to pay for water coffe extra for some drinks

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