We were very exited to go on this cruise and had been on three other Norwegian cruises (Pearl 2x, Escape) and were big Norwegian fans for its freestyle cruising, relaxing atmosphere and friendly staff. But it soon became clear to us that this ship was built to maximize profits: more rooms at the expense of common areas. That resulted in more people in a smaller space, so busy everywhere you went, long lines for buffet, water slides, entertainment etc. The go-karts track and laser tag take up so much space and leave very little room for the pool area on the top deck. As a result, the pool area was packed, loud and we used the hot tub and slide only once on a port day. Most times, there wasn't a lounge chair available. On other ships, we enjoyed taking our meal from the Garden Restaurant to the outside seating area on the back of the ship or just have a tea there to watch the sunset. Encore doesn't have this anymore. It's all indoor and freezing cold. There is only one area where you can stand on the back of the ship, which you can only access through one of the bars or specialty restaurants on the side of the ship. It took us a while to figure this out and once we did, we were the only ones there (no seating). The jogging track is blocked with lounge chairs and very small, so unusable as well. We have two preteens, so we were exited about the new amenities this ship is known for. We did the go-karts, which was fun for the kids because it was their first time driving. But it goes pretty slow, and because of that everyone basically travels at the same speed unable to pass each other. The laser tag was disappointing because each time you got hit, you had to go "back to base" to get a new live. In the 7 minutes we played, everyone had to go back to base at least 20 times, so more time was spent reloading than playing and our group didn't get farther from base than 5-10 yards (I did not see the rest of the arena). Kids did the escape room and thought it was ok. Our room was on the 8th floor, directly on top of the theater/Q and the music was loud in our room until about midnight.

On a positive note: Our cabin was very nice, clean and our room attendant was friendly. The food is very good (we did not do any specialty dining) and there was a great selection. Staff was friendly overall, but I felt they had to work much harder than on other ships, so there was no time for talk or many smiles, they were working all the time. The Encore disappointed us, but it's still a great ship to travel on and we had a fantastic week. It was just not our favorite ship because we felt like the line was crossed to maximize profits with this ship. Many services that used to be free now had to be paid for. And with most entertainment the hosts used every opportunity to promote spending more money on the ship.