Cruise Ship Details

Special holiday events are optional participation. For Halloween, we had a costume party. Great fun. To know for sure what's going to happen, you need to call or chat to know for sure. Each cruise is different. Halloween usually happens on the 21 day Panama Canal repositioning cruise. I'd estimate 10% of passengers were prepared with costumes. Many were not sure there would be an event but came prepared. Some appeared to know in advance and went all out for the "best costume".

Only juice, water, coffee and tea are complementary. Sodas you will have to pay for unless you have a beverage package.

Nothing past your "free at sea." BUT the bartenders are talented and have access to more resources for cocktails. The wine menu is more extensive. The food at the Haven is FANTASTIC and you can have lobster tails and fillet mignon every night if you want, delivered by your butler. The people at the Haven bend over backwards to accommodate your wants.

They usually have karaoke in one of the lounges almost every evening, it will be listed in the daily schedule.

There are usually dozens of other passengers using scooters on all types of cruises. There is usually a lot of room to move around even in the more crowded areas so you should not have a problem, unless you try to squeeze into an already crowded elevator.

no coffee maker

No

No, you can contact the access desk and request it. It will be in your cabin for you.

You get one free bag of laundry, 2 special treats delivered during your cruise.

same menu in taste, savor and manhattan

Yes

yes, deck 8 just aft of The Cavern if I remember correctly

I suggest you look at the deck plans for the ship - look for Encore - go down the rather long page until you find the "Deck Plans" button and select that. Towards the top is a drop down control that lists all the decks of the ship that passengers can be on. Select deck 16 and there you will find out whether or not there are any pools. This same approach works for all NCL ships. Haven passengers have their own private pool on deck 17 - along with hot tubs on deck 19 (outside - forward).

Generally, MOST cruise ships with spas will offer Spa packages you can pre-book - but not all (if you're desperate for a spa, get a spa room). On the FIRST day of a cruise they usually offer Spa packages. Go directly to the spa the moment you get on board and book your day(s). They usually offer specials too (reduced prices) if you get there early (no guarantee that'll happen for you, but this is very common in the cruise industry). Cost varies depending on what type of spa experience you are interested in. There is a lot of information on YouTube regarding this kind of stuff. Search for "NCL Encore spa" and you'll probably get more info than you want. If nothing comes up, just search for "NCL Encore" and you'll definitely get more information than you will need. If you need immediate answers to questions like this, i suggest you CALL or use the CHAT feature of this website.

Not a tour specifically, but they do have several officer Q&A sessions on each cruise where the captain will be at at least 1 of them. Also depending on your latitudes level there is a dinner with the officers function and a cocktail party where many of the officers will be there and a chance the captain will be there as well.

Bring an extension cord.

Depends on the length of the cruise or destination - and in a lot of cases what you consider to be comedy. The theater productions generally have comedy - but if you're looking for stand up, there is a club where they have stand up. Can't guarantee they'll have someone you'd enjoy, but yes, they have entertainment and a comedy club. On our last cruise the club was used for art shows during the day and comedy at night.

Alaska, as I'm sure you're aware, gets REALLY COLD. Even in August, when the wind blows, you're going to freeze your proverbial "BUxx" off at times. Pools are usually available, but only the hot tubs are worth the effort - but practice your getting into and out of a tub to determine what your tolerance is to possibly zero degree air with a wind chill of thirty below before you can grab your towel or robe. Alaska is not somewhere you go if you want to use the pool much. You go for the scenery and the excursions (which at this time of year, excursions are limited due to weather conditions). You WILL see Alaska in its raw state. It's beautiful. We've done it in August (first week of August) and it was fantastic. We're doing it in October of 2024 as the last cruise because we'll see it when the ice and snow are beginning to cover everything. One thing to consider, take note of when the salmon are returning. Junea has a fish hatchery where the fish try to cram themselves in the fish ladder to get back to where they started. You can ALMOST walk across the entire bay on the backs of salmon. The hatchery was very interesting to tour. Also, the duplicate liberty bell is on the steps of the capitol building (minor factoid, but if you walk the town, you'll find other historical things of interest).

I would wait until you get on board. The first day sailing they offered a "free woman's pamper party." It lasted about 45 minutes or so and they go over options at the spa and give you discount codes to say when booking at the spa!