Cruise Ship Details

You can and should book your dinner reservations for specialty restaurants 120 days in advance. Shows can be booked 26 days in advance which I also recommend.

The higher end specialty places like Cagney's and Le Bistro MIGHT give you the stink eye if you show up in a bathing suit or shredded pants and natty attire, but if you don't have enough gumption to put on a decent pair of pants and a shirt, you're getting a little too comfortable on board. The Manhattan room might also give you a little nudge to go put on some nice comfortable clothes (clean and comfortable is the style). No one is going to ask you to put on a suit and tie or get "doll'd" up. The Haven restaurant has a self imposed "you'paid a bundle to be here and everyone else in the Haven doesn't want you to spoil it for the rest of us" attitude, but that's the guests enforcing other guests, not the staff. Put it this way, if the eatery is table cloth, show some respect for everyone else. If it's bar/tavern like, go biker and leather jacket, or good shorts, tennis shoes, and a T-shirt. I would recommend being slightly western themed for the Texas BBQ deck 6. You can go casual just about anywhere on ship, but you'll feel more like you belong if you adjust slightly for each venue. I guarantee you the staff and guests will appreciate it. As my father told me long ago, you don't dress for yourself. You dress appropriately for the venue to show respect to everyone there. THEY in turn will show you more respect and include you in any activities. Trust me, I've lived by this advice and you'd be surprised how the psychological effects on others works to your advantage. I always dressed slightly better than my coworkers and they wondered why I got the bigger raises. Management won't admit it, but someone who dresses nice at work indicates they care about the people around them and they care about their job.

Yes.

Tradewinds duty free shop on deck 8, either side of the main staircase.

Shore excursions usually don't show up unless it's a sponsored excursion (for example, the new dock NCL built has some interesting activities featuring Alaskan business owners. Look on youtube and search for "NCL Alaska" and you'll get a lot of info. Really worth your time to watch if you're serious about going to Alaska. About 9 to 12 months out from the cruise more excursions usually appear - so check back often. I do recommend the White Pass train (now owned by Princess Cruise lines but I think it's still offered by NCL as an excursion). All the major cruise lines are investing heavily in Alaska infrastructure and shore excursions - it's in their best interest to do so. There are LOTS of excursion offerings if you watch the NCL videos and there are plenty of sources on the internet if you search for "Alaska tourism". Type in the name of each city and you'll find lots of info about tours. The upside-down gardens, fish hatchery, sea plane tours, glacier tours (Mendenhall for one), White Pass train, liberty bell at the capitol steps, the list is almost endless. However I DO recommend booking through NCL if possible since you get a guarantee that if something goes wrong, the ship will wait for you or arrange to get you to the next port. Don't forget, Seattle has a lot to offer as well. If you get off in Victoria, go to high tea at the Empress or walk Government Street and go to the indoor mall. The "Sticky Wicket" can be fun (northeast of the Empress hotel). James Bay is where Captain Cook fixed up his ship and is the heart and soul of Victoria. The island of Vancouver is named after his Leftenant who captained one of the other ships on the expedition. The British Museum (south of the Empress) is good too! I don't know if they still allow it, but you can stand on the platform between cars on the train. I stood out there both up and back and loved every minute of it. HOWEVER, weather in Skagway can get ugly and there are no guarantees you'll have good weather, so keep in mind the higher you go, the colder it gets and you might not see the other side of a valley. Best time for good weather, last week of July first week of August. Ketchikan has a pole at the dock that indicates how much rain they have in a year. It's over 50 feet tall the last time I looked. They don't measure it in inches, they measure it in feet. When we were there it was over 32 feet of rain for the prior year (and it was raining as we stepped off the ship). SO, bring rain wear and something warm to put on underneath. BUT don't let that slow you down. Each town offers something interesting and fun. If you like Totem poles, take the "bite" tour (a spit of land that looks like someone took a bite out of it). I think it's in Ketchikan. Long houses, totems, tour guide, interesting gift shop (very eclectic).

The solo rooms have a separate singles lounge area that only other solo passengers can use. Similar to the idea of the Haven lounge. It's not big, but it's adequate. There are special solo traveler functions scheduled several days each week (depends on the cruise and ports of call). We had a room across from the forward area of the ship where there were a lot of happy solo travelers and I saw them at various areas of the ship, like bars and deck areas. Some functions appeared to be independently arranged by the solo travelers who met in the first few days of the voyage. We have friends who are solo travelers and they stated they like the Encore because of the Solo rooms they offer. Not all ships have solo rooms. Go to youtube, there are a few videos showing what the Encore solo rooms look like. I don't remember if they showed the solo lounge, but they mention it. If I remember correctly ALL solo rooms are inside cabins.

you always have the option to take your own luggage aboard.

Not sure what the previous reply is talking about. I know of no cruise line that doesn't allow smoking on the ship. Yes, there is a designated smoking area on the Haven sun deck.

Yes, The vibe.

We just got off the Breakaway 2 weeks ago and used one of the cruise lines pack and plays. We basically set it up between the couch and counter. There was also room closer to our door but I wanted that more open to use the bathroom at night. It is cramped in there when it is up so we set it up every night and tore it down every morning. Luckily it was an easy one to set up and tear down. Some are a pain to push the buttons in.