Norwegian Encore Alaska Cruise Review: Day 3 – Embarkationfeatured
I used to say I had this spidey sense — that at the end of a cruise, I’d wake up in the middle of the night knowing that my cell service had returned after a week or two of no cell service on a ship. I was in my 20s, social media ran my life and it was the one thing to look forward to when everything I’d been looking forward to for months was coming to an end.
After two and a half years of not being able to cruise, I think I developed a new spidey sense — when the cruise ship gets into port right outside our window and its time to wake up and get ready to cruise! Our hotel room at the Marriott Seattle Waterfront looked right out onto Norwegian’s pier and nothing could have stoked my excitement more than to wake up, look out the window and see the ship waiting for us.
Our check in time was 10-10:30 and we were up before 7, so we had plenty of time to get ready, but we needed to make a quick Target run for last minute essentials. Thankfully, there’s a Target right across the street from Pike Place, a 15 minute walk from the hotel. Walking through Pike Place in the pre-opening hours is such a different experience — there’s a different energy as the vendors get ready for their days, and you can really see it in a different light without all of the people!
We grabbed some scones from Three Girls Bakery on our way back and had a quick breakfast in the room. We repacked our bags, gussied ourselves up and checked out of the hotel around 9:30 AM to begin our walk over to the ship. The Marriott Seattle Waterfront was perfect for our quick pre-cruise and so convenient for cruisers. It’s right outside the NCL pier, and they offer a shuttle to Pier 91 (for an additional fee) if you’re going on another line.
All we had to do was cross the street and our embarkation journey began. First step was to check in our bags. If you don’t have bag tags, you’ll have to wait in a line to get them, but if you do, you can bypass and drop them off.
After you drop your bags off, you’ll get your COVID test. Sometimes it’s at the Marriott. Today it was at the Convention Center at the pier. Someone will check your passport and vaccine card and you’ll follow a long queue to another agent, who will check you in formally for your test. You’ll then follow into another room for testing, where they run Abbott’s BinaxNOW rapid tests. Stephanie did her own, but my proctor swabbed me. They’ll label your test and write the time on the sheet the check in agent gives you. After that, you wait in a large room with everyone else waiting for their results. Numbers are displayed and called out electronically on two large projection screens. There is water and other beverages and you’ll get a text, an email and see your number on a screen. That’s your cue to leave, and the text is your exit card. I know BinaxNOW tests take 15 minutes — I’ve taken a million of them for my international trips. Stephanie’s results were in in about 17 minutes. The check in agent will tell you 25-30 minutes. My results took 35 minutes. To say I was freaking out would be an understatement. Agents would periodically come into the room and call out numbers — I assume for people who tested positive or inconclusive to bring them to secondary testing. I was bracing myself for that and thankfully, it was just a delay in processing results!
We flashed our text messages to exit the waiting room to another table where we had to show our results to another agent to get a wristband with the date on it. You can take the wristband off as soon as you get onboard, but you’ll be asked to flash it at least half a dozen times from the time you exit the testing area and the time you get onboard the ship.
From the testing center, you go back downstairs, out and into the port terminal, where you’ll go through a document check, security and the formal check in to get your keycards. Because it was still pretty early, that’s where the process came to a pause for us. Once we had our keycards and boarding card (group 20 — blahhh), we were asked to take a seat in the terminal because boarding wouldn’t begin for another 45 minutes or so. There were plenty of others waiting with us, a nod to the efficiency Norwegian had implemented into this process, and plenty of chairs, space to walk around and even beverages in case anyone got thirsty.
Around 11:15 am, they began calling boarding groups and by 11:35, we began the long walk up the gangway to the ship. So from the time we left the hotel to the time we were foot onboard, it was less than two hours — not bad! The entire walk up to the ship, I just couldn’t believe this was actually happening and just how happy it made me to finally be stepping back onto a ship — how much happiness this brings to me and how excited I was for the next week to come.
We entered through deck 7 and immediately stepped over to the Manhattan Room, one of the main dining rooms. Norwegian isn’t holding traditional muster drills at the moment so instead, you’re asked to visit your muster station on embarkation day. Your card will be scanned at the front (and then again further inside, where a crew member will give you a short spiel with the who/what/when in case of emergency) and that’s it!
I figured the Garden Cafe would be packed, so we headed over to The Local, the Encore’s 24-hour pub, for lunch. We ordered a bunch of appetizers and a round of cocktails and cheers’ed to the beginning of our vacation.
Rooms wouldn’t be ready until 1:30 PM, so we set out around the ship to explore all of the fun things it had to offer! We started at the Observation Lounge, a gorgeous, expansive lounge designed for scenic cruising. It reminded me a lot of the club lounge at the Mandarin Oriental — neutral tones with comfortable, well-appointed furnishings, lots of spaces to gather or watch the stunning landscapes, snacks and beverage stations and even a bar with strong cocktails. It’s a great space to pass time and we figured we’d spend a fair amount of time there throughout the week.
After a(nother) round of drinks, we headed up to the pool deck, where there were fun waterslides (that probably wouldn’t get much use in Alaska!), a huge go-kart track and even an outdoor laser tag arena! The slides are complimentary, the go-karts and laser tag are an additional cost, but they looked super fun!
Rooms were ready just before 1:30 PM, and with no muster drill, we had plenty of time to settle in before sailaway. We were booked in a standard balcony room and it was plenty comfortable for the two of us, but we felt it would get tight with any more than two people. Our balcony felt a little smaller than what we’re used to on Carnival and Royal Caribbean and the television in the room seemed smaller than standard, too, but we weren’t here to watch TV so it wasn’t a big deal. In the room was a bottle of sparkling wine (a past guest perk) and a bottle of wine (came with our Costco vacation package), as well as our tour tickets and two N-95 masks. A tray of chocolate covered strawberries was delivered shortly after (also from our Costco package) and we settled in to relax after a busy morning, taking turns to unpack our suitcases. The closet looked small, but we were able to fit four suitcases (I know, I know) of clothes, shoes and everything else we couldn’t help ourselves to not bring with.
Our balcony faced Elliott Bay, so we headed out to The Waterfront for sailaway to get a glimpse of the skyline. The Waterfront is a wrap-around deck down closer to the water with outdoor eateries, bars and plenty of places to sit and watch the water. Of course, after a day and a half of beautiful weather in Seattle, clouds moved in and the skies opened up. But a little bit of rain wasn’t going to ruin our first cruise in what felt like forever, so we watched the Encore pull us further away from downtown Seattle and the Space Needle and settled in on a covered couch.
The landscape as we pulled further out was unlike any other I’ve cruised past before. The tall trees in so many shades of bright greens, rusty oranges and fall reds, the mountains peeking out behind the clouds, the small sliver of sunlight peeking through the storm clouds — it was so pretty!
We had a 6:00 PM reservation for dinner at the Manhattan Room. The Manhattan Room is one of three main dining rooms onboard the Encore and even though service had just started a half hour earlier, it was packed and service was a bit slow as a result. Our first (and only) Norwegian cruise was on a port-heavy Baltic’s cruise a few years earlier, so all of the MDR menus were pretty new to us and we found the offerings diverse and expansive enough for us. Dessert was the winner — the chocolate lava cake was delicious!
The evening’s entertainment was a headliner show featuring Broadway vocalist Michelle Murlin. The Encore Theater is probably one of the smaller theaters we’ve seen at sea, but the ship was sailing at around 50% capacity (per Cruise Director Silas, we had around 2100 cruisers this week!) so it didn’t feel particularly crowded. Michelle performed a high-energy set list of pop favorites, some classics and, of course, Broadway tunes. Throughout the week, we’d have a number of big shows onboard and we were excited to see them all!
The seas were starting to pick up with the high waves and we were rocking and rolling as we sailed towards Alaska. I, of course, was absolutely thrilled — the rocking motion puts me right to sleep! We grabbed some tea up at the Garden Cafe and ended the night back at the room, out on the balcony watching the city lights fade further and further into the distance.
