In summary, we had a great time! The staff went above and beyond to ensure we had a fun cruise. Stay away from the Q Smokehouse, and get those sea legs ready when on the Encore. Stop by the A List bar and grab a drink from Harvey and make sure to catch Choir of Man!
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation was easy and fairly quick. Covid testing is conducted by CVS staff in a organized fashion at the NCL terminal. We were on the ship by 11:15am.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Nearly all of the food was good during our trip with a few exceptions (Q Texas Smokehouse and American Diner). The service was great everywhere we ate except Q Texas Smokehouse.
The Local
5 out of 5
The Local was our go to place a lot of the time during our voyage. The food was always good and the service was very fast.
Q Texas Smokehouse
1 out of 5
The Q was a huge let down for specialty dining. While we did go about 30 minutes before they closed, they didn’t really want to serve us.One member of our party had the three meal specialty dining package and they kept telling her she only had the two meal package. The waitress hardly checked in on us and the food wasn’t very good, with the exception of the 1/2 chicken, which was good. We had to walk to the bar on our own a few times to get drink refills due to the poor service.The Q is at the bottom of the list when it comes to Specialty Dining in our opinion.
Cagney's Steakhouse
5 out of 5
The service and food were both great at Cagney’s. We especially enjoyed the dessert menu here more than anywhere else.
Garden Cafe
4 out of 5
The food was usually fresh and good but the buffet had a lot of empty stations and a lot of the options were repeated. We just didn’t think there was a lot to choose from.
American Diner
3 out of 5
The service at the American Diner was great, but the food not so much. We walked by this venue quite a few times during our sailing and noticed it was empty almost every time. You can get similar items in other areas of the ship for free, so it’s our opinion that this restaurant should be a free dining option. The mozzarella sticks and shakes are good.
Ocean Blue
5 out of 5
Ocean Blue was our favorite restaurant on the ship. The food and service were both great. We all really loved the spicy shrimp appetizer, but can’t remember what it was called exactly.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Our favorite extra amenity on the ship was definitely the Thermal Spa. We purchased the day pass for $59 and thought it was well worth it. We could have spent all day in the pool which features many types of jets for massaging different areas of the body.
The Encore speedway was okay. The car speeds never varied so you basically stay in the same order you start in, which was a bit boring. We feel like there are countless other things that could have occupied this large space that would have made more sense.
The ship only has 4 public use hot tubs, they are all small and we were only able to use them once and had to wait. I could only imagine how difficult it would be to get in a hot tub if the ship was at full capacity. Deck chairs were also hard to find on most days despite the ship being at half capacity as well.
Aqua Park
2 out of 5
Way too strict when it comes to weight and accessories on the water slides.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Choir of Man was phenomenal! This is our favorite live performance that we’ve ever seen on land or at sea.
We were disappointed that Kinky Boots was canceled just one hour before we were scheduled to watch it.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Nearly all of the staff were amazing. We have to give a special call out to Harvey (A List Bar), Michael (Waves Bar), and Emory (sp. Cavern Club Bar). The only time we had service issues was when we asked to have our glass cleaned on our aft balcony (soot) and at the Q Smokehouse.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The Encore is a beautiful ship with a great layout and was exceptionally clean.
Our biggest complaint (and we heard this a lot from others) is how bad the ship rocks. I’ve stayed in the aft of other ships and never experienced anything even close to the movement I felt on Encore. As a matter of fact, the rocking of the ship and vibrations could be felt almost anywhere we went on the ship. Another guest asked the captain why it was doing this during a Q&A but he pretty much said he didn’t feel anything.
4 out of 5 of us did not feel well during our first sea day due to all of the motion. The waters were calm during our trip.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Our cabin was your average size balcony cabin but had a very large balcony. The cabin was kept very clean. I slept really hot, the air conditioning doesn’t quite get cool enough for us as we like to sleep cold, but so far this has been an issue on all ships we have been on.
This cabin had noticeable movement while at sea and propeller noise.
Ship tip
If you get sea sick easily, find another ship to sail on.
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