Our first ever cruise in October, which happened to be on Seabourn, met all of our needs and it made us overcome our fears about crowding and herding on cruises....to the point that we signed up for our second cruise while on board Odyssey. Two Seabourn cruises in 5 months on two different ships.
We were aware that Encore was a new ship and had only been sailing for 6 weeks or so before we boarded and knew that there could be some growing pains. We booked a Veranda Suite and expected some adjustment as our previous cruise was in an Owners Suite. We can say that we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise from Suite to restaurants to excursions.
The only problem that we had was crowding and seating delays in The Restaurant on two nights of the 16 day cruise. Management was well aware of the situation and worked to figure out a way to alleviate the problem for the following cruise. There were many apologies concerning the delay.
Clean, nice decor, a location that we enjoy with a small hall and up high, very functional and comfortable.