Zach: Me and my wife were one the NCL Norwegian Star o a 15 day cruise this past April. The embarkcation (sp.) took 15 min. when we got there at bout 3 p.m. The service was great. tlk to the room staff quite a bit. (Note , you do have to flip your sign next to your door "Please make up this room"). I'm not sure you could possibly make up rooms for 4,500 people in a timely matter) The NCL App. worked all the time. As far as reservations, I think they do this to try and control the line. saying that, if you have 1,000+ people that want to see a show and you get there 20 min. before the show starts there is going to be a line. Going back to service. at midnight on the first night I found out we didn't have any hot water. They had someone there in 15 min. and fixed it. All of our wait staff bar tenders were friendly all tough they didn't call me by my name all the time. We did have a waiting time for our excursions in the showroom but then again I got there early. As far as the entertainment, that's a hard one. As being an entertainer for 40 years and working on NCL Pride Of America for 13 of those years every Monday there can be many issues you don't see. It would take to long to go into it but Broadway shows 1) they have to pay a fee, they have to pay a royalty for the music they play in the show and they have to pay the cast to sit around and do nothing till showtime or rehearsal. So the 45 min show you see one time is pretty costly on all cruise lines. I will agree with you that the cover band in Syd Normans (RUMORS" )was the best cover band I've ever heard but as you said the venue was a joke. 2) Our disembarkation took 20 min. at the most but not everyone was getting off. Now after this long message, Things I didn't like "Free At Sea" 1) The Alcohol is definitely watered down. I'm not a heavy drinker but there never was a BUZZ happening. Not really disappointing but your not getting what you pay for.. Don't know about the wine because I don't drink wine. 3) The gratuities were pretty high but Princess is to when you add everything up everyones (other cruises) total is about the same. One thing you need to know about gratuities. They can be refunded when you check out if you demand them to be refunded (Check it out) 4)Long waits at the excursion desk even tough they had 5 people at the desk. 5) Completely unorganized on the Tinder Reservations. It would take to long to explain, Just say I had to get inline at 5 a.m. if I wanted to be on the 1st. or 2nd. Tender. 6) Internet package is a joke. You use your minutes waiting for it to connect or go to your "Mail" or a website. You should be aware of most Terminal Buildings have FREE Wifi. 7) They had an outdoor screen but never showed anything on it. 8) Specialty dining was just o.k.. Really the main dining rooms were great. Buffet, as all buffets get old as the trip goes on. I will say this. If I asked for something they didn't have they went out of their way to get it. 8) The $50.00 discount on tour excursions added up to cover all of the gratuities. Princess just gives you $100.00 on the whole cruise. Well I've wrote enough. I'm on a NCL cruise for Alaska in May. As far as the ship docking away from town I won't wait. I'll take a cab or Uber and bypass a Starbucks drink to pay for it. The thing that NCL has that no one one else has is a special train tht runs from Seward to Anchorage. Everyone else has a bus. I am on a smaller ship. I don't think any ship that holds 4,500 people is going to be smooth sailing all the time.
The “at home” helps with their standard as to how many times they would need to knock or find out if they can disturb you for any service you might need
Big fan of all things history and tidbits of natural history too. An Alaskan cruise is on my "must do" list...fingers crossed. Looking forward to the rest of your cruise. Bruce and Otis
In April, it Did not work for me or the majority of the people on the Encore.. lacking is mild Zach…it was plain ole crappy, but i must say our stateroom was cleaned well but then Julianna was a terrific cabin attendant🚢😊
One thing I don’t like about Norwegian’s Alaska cruises is that it’s Juneau and Ketchikan docks are not in the center of town, which further reduces the amount of time you have in those ports. But it looks like Encore would be a fun trip to try to a warm weather destination.
I totally agree with your review of the disembarking!!!! Last week on the Encore was my 2nd post covid cruise. I also sailed in October on NCL Getaway. Both experiences of leaving the ship after the cruise were horrible! It took forever to get off the ships. People were everywhere and it didn’t seem like there was any rhyme or reason to the multiple lines that snaked through decks 7 and 8. Was crazy!!! On the Getaway, we ended up ‘accidentally’ getting off as they herded us in one direction and then next thing ya know, we were scanning our cards to leave!
We did the same cruise then of July. Interesting that our stateroom was also not cleaned the first day and the app did not work well the first day or two. Coincidence? But our room steward apologized the next day and did a good job thereafter. We also loved Choir of Man and found the food to be great throughout the cruise. We've cruised with NCL and would not hesitate to do so again!
You were so lucky to have a well stocked Studio Lounge. Breakaway was poorly stocked. I was in a Studio cabin on a B2B and it was barely stocked with cake slices and a juice and water dispenser like you showed, but there is nothing in it to keep it stirred so it don't settle. The app connection depends on where you are on the ship. But your device is part of the equation. There is a bunch of talk of NCL getting StarLink satellite internet, but no evidence with the FAS minutes I had. Maybe the higher priced internet pkgs would be given a priority connection to not be buffering so much.
I agree Zach the wake is the best view of the ship check out the Haven suite we have booked in June it's the aft penthouse suite 10912 on the NCL BREAKAWAY the balcony we are going to have is insane basically the whole rear of the ship. I'm beyond excited
The NCL app has, shall we say, abundant opportunities for improvement. Just wanting to know what's on the MDR menu that night means walking down there to look at a physical menu. Really? On this ship class, that's a major hike! But then again, the Observation Lounge has lovely seating areas with more solo-friendly options than you find elsewhere. Too bad I didn't know you were trying Encore - you missed Food Republic & Onda which are my #1 and #3 NCL specialties (Le Bistro is #2).
And your comment about the menus is 100% correct! I meant to mention that in my videos but forgot. I hated not being able to scan the MDR menus anytime I wanted.
Thanks Zach for another great overview of tech, food, amenities and experience. Would it be fair to say that the capability of the tech (speed, app, quality of wifi etc) doesn’t quite match up to the offerings of tech (public interactive screens, booking shows and rides through app)? Seems to be like they are “building the ship while sailing “ 😊 (in the tech aspect anyhow 🤣)
I’m so glad you mentioned très lèches in the buffet! It has become my favorite cake tied with tiramisu. I hope they have it on our cruise (also NCL Encore Glacier Bay itinerary). I noticed it listed on the Los Lobos menu but the buffet would be better since we’ve chosen another specialty dining restaurant so I’d have to pay for it à la carte.
Hey Zach. I'm thinking your internet/app issue was actually your iPhone's settings causing it. My partner and I were on the Bliss and he had the exact same issue. Next time, you need to turn off the randomized mac address and all of the other ridiculous Apple only network security settings like private IP. Once he turned all that off, it worked great with no issues for the rest of the sailing. Basically your phone was spoofing/randomizing your mac and IP address so everytime you went into the app, you needed to register again because to the ships server, it thought you were using a new device each time. Hope that helps for your next NCL sailing!
This app has been an issue for several years. It never gets better. Their normal online app navigation is off also. I basically looks like it has for several years. Don't worry the executives got major salaries. Sounds like Southwest Airlines issues.
I love Choir of Man, but I really miss when they did it as a dinner show option in smaller venues, allowing the cast to really interact with the guests.
@@vanessawyndham8791 Actually, it was originally done in response to covid. They were putting more distance between the actors - who in the smaller venues would come out into the crowd, dance on your tabletop, sit at your table with you - and the audience. That was before they really started the big-show cuts.
Zach. Had the same issue with the app when we sailed on the encore in April. I made the same comment in my vlog. We are back on the Encore in October for our Alaskan cruise and I am betting we will have the same issue again.
I belong to a group and the choice has been made to use NCL as our cruise line. I think they do have the worst tech and wifi of any cruise line I have been on. And, their food isn't bad but I do find a lack of choice and a lot of bland meals. The speciality places are usually very good. I do prefer Holland or Princess, but, like traveling with this group of friends. Headed to Alaska on NCL in Sept.
We cruise RC and we have our room attendant put 2 of the paper Cruise Planners in our room everyday. We also tried using just the RC app but it kept making you sign back in if you didn't purchase the Internet package. My husband gets the Internet package and he only got kicked off the app once during a 7 day cruise where I was kicked off after 1 hour of non-use of the app. We talked to RC and were told that since I didn't purchase the Internet package that their app is designed to kick us off after 1 hour of non-use. We also found things were listed on the paper Cruise Planner but not on the app so both companies have to improve if they want us to use only the app.
Hope you had a great cruise! We have 4 NCL cruises under our belt, however, we chose Princess for our Alaska cruise next weekend as we are seeking a more traditional cruising experience for this journey. 🛳️. I will agree with you that the NCL app and internet in general is lacking, at least compared to our other experiences with other lines.
Zach: Me and my wife were one the NCL Norwegian Star o a 15 day cruise this past April. The embarkcation (sp.) took 15 min. when we got there at bout 3 p.m. The service was great. tlk to the room staff quite a bit. (Note , you do have to flip your sign next to your door "Please make up this room"). I'm not sure you could possibly make up rooms for 4,500 people in a timely matter) The NCL App. worked all the time. As far as reservations, I think they do this to try and control the line. saying that, if you have 1,000+ people that want to see a show and you get there 20 min. before the show starts there is going to be a line. Going back to service. at midnight on the first night I found out we didn't have any hot water. They had someone there in 15 min. and fixed it. All of our wait staff bar tenders were friendly all tough they didn't call me by my name all the time. We did have a waiting time for our excursions in the showroom but then again I got there early. As far as the entertainment, that's a hard one. As being an entertainer for 40 years and working on NCL Pride Of America for 13 of those years every Monday there can be many issues you don't see. It would take to long to go into it but Broadway shows 1) they have to pay a fee, they have to pay a royalty for the music they play in the show and they have to pay the cast to sit around and do nothing till showtime or rehearsal. So the 45 min show you see one time is pretty costly on all cruise lines. I will agree with you that the cover band in Syd Normans (RUMORS" )was the best cover band I've ever heard but as you said the venue was a joke. 2) Our disembarkation took 20 min. at the most but not everyone was getting off. Now after this long message, Things I didn't like "Free At Sea" 1) The Alcohol is definitely watered down. I'm not a heavy drinker but there never was a BUZZ happening. Not really disappointing but your not getting what you pay for.. Don't know about the wine because I don't drink wine. 3) The gratuities were pretty high but Princess is to when you add everything up everyones (other cruises) total is about the same. One thing you need to know about gratuities. They can be refunded when you check out if you demand them to be refunded (Check it out) 4)Long waits at the excursion desk even tough they had 5 people at the desk. 5) Completely unorganized on the Tinder Reservations. It would take to long to explain, Just say I had to get inline at 5 a.m. if I wanted to be on the 1st. or 2nd. Tender. 6) Internet package is a joke. You use your minutes waiting for it to connect or go to your "Mail" or a website. You should be aware of most Terminal Buildings have FREE Wifi. 7) They had an outdoor screen but never showed anything on it. 8) Specialty dining was just o.k.. Really the main dining rooms were great. Buffet, as all buffets get old as the trip goes on. I will say this. If I asked for something they didn't have they went out of their way to get it. 8) The $50.00 discount on tour excursions added up to cover all of the gratuities. Princess just gives you $100.00 on the whole cruise. Well I've wrote enough. I'm on a NCL cruise for Alaska in May. As far as the ship docking away from town I won't wait. I'll take a cab or Uber and bypass a Starbucks drink to pay for it. The thing that NCL has that no one one else has is a special train tht runs from Seward to Anchorage. Everyone else has a bus. I am on a smaller ship. I don't think any ship that holds 4,500 people is going to be smooth sailing all the time.
Thanks Zach! We enjoy your honest observations and your video work is always top-notch!
I appreciate that!
The “at home” helps with their standard as to how many times they would need to knock or find out if they can disturb you for any service you might need
Cruising to Alaska August 2024 so I’m really looking forward to seeing all your excursions!
Definitely enjoying this series.
~ Inge 😺
Have fun! Thank you.
Big fan of all things history and tidbits of natural history too. An Alaskan cruise is on my "must do" list...fingers crossed. Looking forward to the rest of your cruise. Bruce and Otis
I sailed to AK on HAL and had a great trip! Glad you enjoyed AK too! Cheers!!
Awesome! Thank you!
In April, it Did not work for me or the majority of the people on the Encore.. lacking is mild Zach…it was plain ole crappy, but i must say our stateroom was cleaned well but then Julianna was a terrific cabin attendant🚢😊
One thing I don’t like about Norwegian’s Alaska cruises is that it’s Juneau and Ketchikan docks are not in the center of town, which further reduces the amount of time you have in those ports. But it looks like Encore would be a fun trip to try to a warm weather destination.
I agree - this ship would be awesome in the Caribbean!
Agreed! We are doing Norwegian Sun 10-day where all their port stops are at least eight hours! YAY! 🎉
Um unless you are on a small ship you are not docking in centre of town . The dock does not effect your stay by anymore than 15 minutes.
I totally agree with your review of the disembarking!!!! Last week on the Encore was my 2nd post covid cruise. I also sailed in October on NCL Getaway. Both experiences of leaving the ship after the cruise were horrible! It took forever to get off the ships. People were everywhere and it didn’t seem like there was any rhyme or reason to the multiple lines that snaked through decks 7 and 8. Was crazy!!! On the Getaway, we ended up ‘accidentally’ getting off as they herded us in one direction and then next thing ya know, we were scanning our cards to leave!
Thank you and I can hardly wait for the next video. Enjoy
Thanks for watching!
Probably won’t sail NCL unless it is the exact itinerary I want. But this was a great review. Thanks!
We did the same cruise then of July. Interesting that our stateroom was also not cleaned the first day and the app did not work well the first day or two. Coincidence? But our room steward apologized the next day and did a good job thereafter. We also loved Choir of Man and found the food to be great throughout the cruise. We've cruised with NCL and would not hesitate to do so again!
You were so lucky to have a well stocked Studio Lounge. Breakaway was poorly stocked. I was in a Studio cabin on a B2B and it was barely stocked with cake slices and a juice and water dispenser like you showed, but there is nothing in it to keep it stirred so it don't settle.
The app connection depends on where you are on the ship. But your device is part of the equation.
There is a bunch of talk of NCL getting StarLink satellite internet, but no evidence with the FAS minutes I had. Maybe the higher priced internet pkgs would be given a priority connection to not be buffering so much.
I agree Zach the wake is the best view of the ship check out the Haven suite we have booked in June it's the aft penthouse suite 10912 on the NCL BREAKAWAY the balcony we are going to have is insane basically the whole rear of the ship. I'm beyond excited
Have a great time!
I'm sailing out on the Encore July 2. Love your videos on this trip! I sailed on her back in December. Beautiful ship. Curious how she'll do in Alaska
Have fun!
The NCL app has, shall we say, abundant opportunities for improvement. Just wanting to know what's on the MDR menu that night means walking down there to look at a physical menu. Really? On this ship class, that's a major hike! But then again, the Observation Lounge has lovely seating areas with more solo-friendly options than you find elsewhere. Too bad I didn't know you were trying Encore - you missed Food Republic & Onda which are my #1 and #3 NCL specialties (Le Bistro is #2).
Oh, I wish I had known to try those two! I did say several times that I would go to Food Republic but ultimately never made it.
And your comment about the menus is 100% correct! I meant to mention that in my videos but forgot. I hated not being able to scan the MDR menus anytime I wanted.
Thanks!
Thank you so much!
Really enjoying these vlogs, thanks.
Glad you like them!
Thanks Zach for another great overview of tech, food, amenities and experience. Would it be fair to say that the capability of the tech (speed, app, quality of wifi etc) doesn’t quite match up to the offerings of tech (public interactive screens, booking shows and rides through app)? Seems to be like they are “building the ship while sailing “ 😊 (in the tech aspect anyhow 🤣)
The boards in public spaces were very nice and convenient. I just wish the app was more consistent!
Thanks for the great videos, I'll be solo (first solo cruise) on the same cruise next year at this time. You're a wealth of information.!!
Thank you! You’ll have a blast. I have a studio room and lounge review coming in a few days!
I’m so glad you mentioned très lèches in the buffet! It has become my favorite cake tied with tiramisu. I hope they have it on our cruise (also NCL Encore Glacier Bay itinerary). I noticed it listed on the Los Lobos menu but the buffet would be better since we’ve chosen another specialty dining restaurant so I’d have to pay for it à la carte.
It's so good!
Thanks Zach...Great Video!
Glad you liked it!
We sailed with NCL once. That was the only time, and I see they still have problems. Thanks for the info though Zac.
Sorry Zach.
Is it true that you complain about having Internet issues throughout the Cruise to Guest Services, they will knock a few dollars off your bill?
I wouldn’t know how to answer that question as it’s never been my experience.
Hey Zach. I'm thinking your internet/app issue was actually your iPhone's settings causing it. My partner and I were on the Bliss and he had the exact same issue. Next time, you need to turn off the randomized mac address and all of the other ridiculous Apple only network security settings like private IP. Once he turned all that off, it worked great with no issues for the rest of the sailing. Basically your phone was spoofing/randomizing your mac and IP address so everytime you went into the app, you needed to register again because to the ships server, it thought you were using a new device each time. Hope that helps for your next NCL sailing!
This is so good to know. I’ll try it next time. Although so many others were having issues too. Could’ve also been iPhone users!
Do you need to have wifi to actually use the NCL App??
No you do not. You can join their network for free and just use the app.
Do they allow you to take a dessert back to your room to have later? Thanks 😊
I’m not sure as I didn’t ask but it never hurts to ask!
Who is the cruise director of this ship?
This app has been an issue for several years. It never gets better. Their normal online app navigation is off also. I basically looks like it has for several years. Don't worry the executives got major salaries. Sounds like Southwest Airlines issues.
I love Choir of Man, but I really miss when they did it as a dinner show option in smaller venues, allowing the cast to really interact with the guests.
That sounds amazing!
They changed the venue to the main theater in response to canceling the larger Broadway type shows that would normally be seen there.
@@vanessawyndham8791 Actually, it was originally done in response to covid. They were putting more distance between the actors - who in the smaller venues would come out into the crowd, dance on your tabletop, sit at your table with you - and the audience. That was before they really started the big-show cuts.
That would be interesting to see choir of Man in a dinner theater show like Velvet! Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy did that as well.
I would actually like to have Syd Norman's in the theater so we don't have to stand outside waiting up to 2 hours to get in and MAYBE get a seat.
Zach. Had the same issue with the app when we sailed on the encore in April. I made the same comment in my vlog. We are back on the Encore in October for our Alaskan cruise and I am betting we will have the same issue again.
I hope they have it fixed by then! It was quite awful for the first few days.
I belong to a group and the choice has been made to use NCL as our cruise line. I think they do have the worst tech and wifi of any cruise line I have been on. And, their food isn't bad but I do find a lack of choice and a lot of bland meals. The speciality places are usually very good. I do prefer Holland or Princess, but, like traveling with this group of friends. Headed to Alaska on NCL in Sept.
We cruise RC and we have our room attendant put 2 of the paper Cruise Planners in our room everyday. We also tried using just the RC app but it kept making you sign back in if you didn't purchase the Internet package. My husband gets the Internet package and he only got kicked off the app once during a 7 day cruise where I was kicked off after 1 hour of non-use of the app.
We talked to RC and were told that since I didn't purchase the Internet package that their app is designed to kick us off after 1 hour of non-use. We also found things were listed on the paper Cruise Planner but not on the app so both companies have to improve if they want us to use only the app.
That's a good tip about the 2 paper Planners in the room each day. Thanks for sharing, Donna!
We are cruising at the end of July. What type pf clothing should we bring ?
I’d say bring a light jacket and a rain jacket to be prepared.
@@ZachtheTravelingMan thank you for taking the time to respond
Hope you had a great cruise! We have 4 NCL cruises under our belt, however, we chose Princess for our Alaska cruise next weekend as we are seeking a more traditional cruising experience for this journey. 🛳️. I will agree with you that the NCL app and internet in general is lacking, at least compared to our other experiences with other lines.
I had a great time, thank you!
I like traditional cruising as well! I don't think I could handle NCL!